On an unseasonably warm day at Hurlingham Park, Hammers 2nd XV took to the field against old rivals Belsize Park. Pre-match tension was palpable, this fixture last season producing a 30-point drubbing to nil for the visitors, and a last-play epic win for hammers in the reverse.

With that in mind, and the words of coach Alan “Le Nugé” Jones ringing in their ears, Hammers knew they could not afford to start slow.

That is sadly exactly what they did. Conceding cheap breakdown penalties and allowing Belsize far too much go-forward with a lacklustre line speed, the Belsize Centre burst through from just inside the 22 to touch down. 0-7.

The backline for Hammers which, on paper, was spicier than both a vindaloo and Seb Moneys fashion sense, responded almost instantly, however. Some robust running lines from Centres James ‘Mad Dog’ Madigan and Robbie ‘Rupert’ Murdoch allowed the space for full back Max Dugdale to score out wide. Conversion missed, 5-7.

What followed next is fairly murky due to the fact it was the first official club social of the year and the Author, a known pintman in the local area, may or may not have overindulged in the festivities and has a patchy memory of the entire weekend.

Belsize managed to score what ended up being their final points of the game after some continued pressure in our 22, before a beautiful miss-pass from fly-half Ben Dugdale sent Murdoch over in the corner. His charming, better-looking brother Max kicked the conversion, and did so again after a driving maul in the corner which was touched down by Prop Zak Underwood.

This I believe sent Hammers in at the half with a slender 19-14 lead. During the interval, utility back Ainsley Howard, looking to return to the side at 13/15, was asked to play number 8. Eyebrows raised by some, he agreed to adapt and do his best out of position for the second 40.

The second half, though far looser and without the planned structure that the purists love to see, was dominant stuff for the home side.

After a quiet game prior, Aussie winger Bruce Morgan decided to turn the game on its head.

Scything through the defence at will, he made 3 brilliant line breaks from inside his own half, finishing one himself and feeding the other 2 to Scrum-half Matt Newman and Captain on the day, Flanker James Lalor. With all three conversions flushed by Dugdale, as well as a penalty, Hammers had seemingly out of nowhere opened up a 43-14 lead.

The penultimate try has not been claimed. The final try was an interception from Man of the Match, the aforementioned Bruce.

It must be said that the final 57-14 scoreline flattered Hammers slightly, but in the end, Belsize simply couldn’t deal with the speed and accuracy of the home sides backline.

Honourable mention must go to the tight 5 who scrummaged resolutely the entire game and defended countless phases deep in our own territory to stop Belsize scoring a single point in the 2nd half.

Team – Underwood, Burke, Donegan, Story, Clouston, Lalor, Smitheman, Clark, Newman, Dugdale B, Morgan, Maddigan, Murdoch, Nellany, Dugdale M. Reps Farrer, Hooper, Duncan, Macgregor, Howard

As luck would have it the sun was out at Hurlingham Park last Saturday, but many puddles remained on the pitch after the torrential down pours during the week. I’ll come back to one puddle in particular in due course.

The atmosphere was a little subdued, not sure why. After a tentative warm-up and a bit of ground maintenance by Seb Money, filling in a giant rabbit hole, the game kicked off against Whitton Lions. They were definitely the bigger team, but we were determined and kicked off well and after a crunching first hit, Whitton Lions were on the back foot. Following a knock-on, we had an attacking scrum on the left hand side, which we won, but the follow on move did not go so well. Undeterred, we kept making meters as Whitton Lions kept kicking us the ball as they cleared their lines. Finally, off an attacking scrum, Charlie Parry trundled over the line thinking that he had scored. But it was not be, the ball was held up by Whitton Lions. Several phases later, after some well executed play, Charlie Parry did earn us some points, which were topped up by the conversion.

More phases were played and following a clearing kick, a long game of ‘kick tennis’ began. Several minutes later, and following some angry looks form the forwards, who were starting to feel left out, Nathan Wooley made a darting run up the right hand side of the touch line. He launched a floating pass (well suited to a basketball court) causing a moment of confusion between Joel Mariner and Jake Cheetham as they both jumped up to receive the pass. Joel Mariner got the better airborne position, caught the ball and Jake Cheetham landed face down in the one muddle puddle on the entire pitch. He stumbled to his feet, arm out-stretched requesting a towel service to wipe his hands, which was met with much hysterical laughter. With no towel forthcoming Nathan Wooley obliged with his shirt – the youth of today!

The next score came from Whitton Lions off a driving maul, closely followed by a well executed try from Cyprian Dumont, his first of the day, followed by a successful conversion. All set for half time, Hammersmith & Fulham, let their guard down and Whitton Lions squeezed in another try from a pick and go – two meters out from the base of the ruck. Half time, finally.

The second half was less frantic. The first score came from Hammersmith & Fulham. Cyprian Dumont made a line break and gave a ‘Sonny Bill Williams -esque’ offload to Joel Mariner who walked in untouched under the posts. Lovely! Whitton Lions responded with another try after a favourable bounce, but no conversion followed. Hammers maintained their lead.

After a very well placed penalty kick into to the corner by Joel Mariner, the forwards produced more excellent phases of play resulting in Cyprian Dumont crashing over the line for his second try. Seb Money, true to form, picked his moment to make substitutions – the entire bench – giving us fresh legs. With a spring in our stride, Seb Norris was a able to score in the corner, putting Hammers further ahead. Not to be out done, Whitton Lions slipped in another try, and successfully converted. With the score line tight, Hammers were not done yet clocking up points. Seb Norris charged up the pitch and was tackled by the fullback, but with Hammers reinforcements on hand to continue to make up ground to the 5 meter line, the ball magically arrived back in Seb Norris’ hands and he walked over the the line. Our stamina prevailed and we successfully controlled a late surge by Whitton Lions. Final score 40-24 to the mighty Hammers, hard fought and well. deserved victory.

MOTM Cypian Dumont
DOTD Jake Cheetham

A loss never felt so much like a win. After a solid warm-up, the Hammers were ready and raring to kick off.

Reading got off to an impressive start and scored 4 trys during the match, however a good defensive effort and some excellent dominant tackles prevented Reading’s score line from increasing.
As well as shining defensively, the Hammers were a cohesive unit with an excellent attitude and excellent communication. Although not meant to be, consistency from the forwards followed by speed and skill from the backs set us up for a few try near-misses.
Sunday’s performance was a sign of things to come for the Hammers 2s, as with regular training to fine-tune key points for improvement, the Hammers 2s gave the makings of a formidable side. NC1, we’re coming for you.

Back Of The Match – went to Sian for her impressive work rate throughout the game

Forward Of The Match – went to Mirriam with a splendid return to match day rugby. Bossing it at hooker, making metres and strong tackles across the pitch. 

 

The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost. The world is changed. Ed Wynne and Scott Van Berkel are out injured attempting to carry the weight of Jacob Poulton’s inflated sense of TrussEconomics. Ollie Weaver decided that taking part in a run for charity was more important than another weekend of missing kicks to touch. Could Hammers live up to previous weeks with such changes to their lineup? Only time would tell…

The game started as confidently as Kwasi Kwarteng’s plan for the economy. Alex Hart plucked the ball from the sky and exit errors were compounded by handing errors. Fullerians scored in the corner. The response was simple and effective, unlike the Conservatives attempt at stablising the markets. Matt Killen shrugged off rumours of his move to Real Madrid and brilliantly scored in the corner after some hard work from the pack to build field position.

Fullerians replied and demonstrated the reason why they so respected in the league. Firstly, they scored a try in the corner off a scrum and then knocked over a penalty. Hammers were shocked. They hadn’t been down before like this. They were desperately defending their line like the men from Helms Deep. Recognising the need for leadership, Tim Russell rode into a swarm of Fullerian defenders and completed the only in tackle offload of the game. The move ended in a well worked try in the corner. From that point Hammers took control and decided to let their resident conservative trundle over the line.

The second half demonstrated with impact of Ian Burbridge on the side. The side’s fitness decided the game with tries from Joe Carolan and BRUCE. James Lo verbally questioned an oppositions rugby ability and earnt slice of cheddar. At the end of the game Alex Spicer’s 50m sprint-> jog-> walk line break was completed by a Jacob Poulton Sonny Bill NFL Hail Mary. The game ended with a 5 point win for Hammers and showed why the RFU had decided to come film the “greatest club in the world”.

Once again the rugby gods smiled down on us and we had bright sunshine for our trip to the top of the Northern Line. Unusually we also arrived to find that the Hampstead pitches still had grass on them! Clearly we should travel up there early every year.

As expected it was a tough game from the start with Hampstead bringing the physical intensity they’re known for. However, our two weeks of focus on contact and dominant tackles paid off as we took it to them both with our tackles and carries. Ten minutes in, Hammers strong scrummaging turned over the ball in Hampstead’s 22, and although I went down under friendly fire (Carola) it was worth it as the backs used the turnover ball to our advantage with Sally driving over in the corner to put the first points on the board. The wide angle made the conversion difficult but we were ahead 0-5. Hampstead are not a team that easily drops their heads and so they came straight back at us and soon had us under pressure on our own line. Despite a try being held up by Katherine, Hampstead crossed the line on the wing and converted to make it 7-5.
Half time.

The game then became somewhat of an arm wrestle as the backs from both teams decided that the forwards hadn’t had enough scrum practice in the previous weeks and proceeded to give us lots of opportunities to scrummage (at least 25 scrums at the current count). After a concerning injury to a Hampstead player (update: she has been checked and cleared by the hospital) we moved to a different pitch to continue the game. A (very) high tackle on Meg 2 metres out gave a Hampstead player 10 minutes rest. Alex then decided that some things are best done yourself and cut through the Hampstead defence to score. Sirri converted to make it 7-12. We continued to put Hampstead under pressure with our kicking game and strong carries, but small mistakes and penalties started to cost us and we found ourselves defending our try line once again. Pressure eventually told and Hampstead scored on the wing again. The conversion proved too difficult and we were all square at 12-12 with 10 to go. We reflected under the posts that we needed to take the game straight back to Hampstead and that’s what we did. Pressure on the kick off and at the breakdown earned Hammers a penalty right in front of the posts. Sirri stepped up to slot the kick and put us ahead 12-15 with 5 minutes left on the clock. Although it was a tense 5 minutes, strong defence and discipline held for the Hammers and Hampstead weren’t able to respond. A great match and the first win of the season!

Forward of the match – Emma Stilwell for great scrummaging and strong carries
Back of the match – Alex Whyte for her excellent kicking game and organisation of the back line
Special mention – Sirri Raines for calm kicking under pressure to net Hammers the win.