The Hammers turned up on a glorious spring morning know they had something to prove, coming off the back on a poor result away down at Horsham, a result that was in no way a reflection of how the season had gone. On their part, Cobham arrived at Fortress Hurlingham off the back of a strong victory at home to Medway and were placed 7^th compared to the hosts 4th place.  With a big crowd down for Old Hams day, the beers and food digesting into the veins of the apprehensive crowd, the Hammers started well with an eloquent kick return from Peter ‘fleet foot’ Morris who burst through the open space of the lacklustre defence to offload out the back to Henry Martin who managed to collect the pass and dot down in the corner after 10 minutes. 5-0 to the men in red.

Cobham came back hard and fast and after some patient work, managed to power over after 16 mins, with the fly half missing his conversion. 5-5. Almost immediately from the kick off, Joe ‘Caravan’ Carolan found himself out on the left wing in acres of space to cruise past the first man in third gear before putting on the afterburners and cutting inside in 5^th to make the score 10-5. Like a well-oiled machine, the Caravan knew he had to impress, with a fleet of Caravans down to watch on the far side with a few plus 1s, wanting to show them what he was all about.

After some back and forth territory jousting, the Hammers kicked a penalty into the corner, leading to a well-constructed catch and drive maul before flinging the ball out wide. Up popped Tom Proctor with a quick pick and go, landing over the try like a flying salmon. This time the Caravan found his built-in dashboard sat nav and the Hammers took a deserved 17-5 lead.

Another excellent kick return after a lovely angle bending switch from Peter ‘snakehips’ Morris and Tim ‘Honeybadger’ Russell ended with a ball out wide, Caravan again taking the ‘goal-hanging’ plaudits, cutting inside and out again, evading the recent wave of Cobham stomach bugs with precision to dot down in the corner, another successful touchline conversion making it 24-5.

Into the second half and with a bonus point secured, it was an opportunity for the home side to really lay down one final marker in the penultimate game of the season.  However, after conceding some early penalties, Cobham managed to get their driving maul working effectively to score two well-constructed tries in quick succession. 24-15.

Back came the wave of red attacks, with Alex ‘Spice up your life’ Spicer carrying consistently well before the parting of the Cobham defence came, like Jesus parting the red sea, in the form of our very own man of God, Russell. Caravan with the conversion to take us to 31-15. Shortly after this, came a moment of madness by Prop Idol U16 candidate Jacob ‘One Blue’ Poulton, who gathered a spilled ball before launching it with his right boot towards the home fans, marginally avoiding a screaming baby. No surprises for the winner of the DOTD nomination.

Some fantastic breakdown work from a number of the Hammers men after a good Thursday night jackal session followed by a team social (but interrupted by an unnamed blond), and things were looking positive for a strong finish. Again, however, Cobham were only really interested in playing like that tight friend who never buys you a drink at the bar, and went over with another catch and drive maul, much to the disappointment of the fans who had come out on a lovely sunny spring day expecting some running rugby from both sides. 31-20.

More patient play from the men in red followed, before Matt ‘Knome’ Newman ran a lovely ‘Gregan’ line with the skipper extraordinaire who burst through the gap, carrying a couple of defenders with him before dotting down next to the posts. Another conversion taking the game to 38-20 and a very happy Caravan lady friend on the touchline. Some more nice play down the short side followed, again with Russell and Caravan combining before Newman received the offload and dotted down over the whitewash to take the score to 45-20.

The opposition then scored 14 unanswered points, but I think they were all from lineout mauls so not much further to add. A very good evening followed, as the touring blazers of HFRFC frequented a number of the local establishments until the early hours, with one member of the club posting on the club whatsapp group the following morning about a missing house mate. You’ll be pleased to hear Mr Howe, who teaches Year 7 Geography, was found without damage.

MOTM: Tim Russell

DOTD: Jacob Poulton

As league newcomers this season, none of us knew quite what to expect of a ‘home-based’ Hackney squad. Despite the entire 1st XV having to wake at the crack of dawn to travel beyond South West London (the horror) we arrived in East London to pleasantly discover that the grass could indeed be greener or at least softer outside of Fortress Hurlingham. The sun was out, the wind was low and Coach Andy wasn’t wearing shorts during the warm up. Already, we knew that today was going to be vastly different from the previous week’s match.

With the London Referee Society saving arguably the best referee we’ve had til the end of the season, Hammers infringements at the breakdown didn’t go unpunished and we spent the first 5 minutes backpedalling towards our tryline due to consistent penalties. With Hackney 5m away from a score, Hammers defence fully engaged and forced the turnover, allowing us to clear our lines and regain some control.

Hard carries from the forwards suckered in the oppo at one side of the pitch, giving Sirri the chance to spin the ball out wide. Deft hands from the backs safely delivered it out to Sasha on the wing. There was still a lot of ground to make up, but she made light work of this by goose-stepping her way around Hackney, across the pitch and over into the corner for a try. Game on.

Following a well-handled restart, the backs lit up the pitch with fine lines, accuracy and pace in attack. This led to Jess C smashing through the line, handing off several people in the face and powering through tackles to score near the posts. Support? Didn’t need it mate.
Chloe J added the extras and off we went again.

Hard work from everyone in defence forced a knock on for a Hammers scrum. The technical prowess of Hackney’s tight 5 meant that all scrums felt very much like we were running up a steep mountain in flip-flops.

Despite this, we secured the ball for as long as was needed to get quick ball out. Clever looping play got it towards the wing again, allowing Sasha to make another break. Tackled just metres short, a strong support line meant that Sophie T was perfectly placed to take the offload and dot down our third of the day.

With Hackney’s restart kick not quite making 10m we had a brief Mexican stand-off where neither side wanted to touch the ball. Time stood still. The crowd went silent. We all got a little more sunburnt. Fortunately for this match report, Hackney capitulated by touching the ball, allowing us to opt for a scrum on the halfway. Joy.

The brief rest clearly did everyone some good as we held the scrum and got the ball out, allowing Chloe E to run a clear straight line down the wing for our fourth. Boom.

HT score 22-0

It was great to be ahead but as the coaches noted, 40 mins is a long time in rugby. Nothing could be taken for granted. Time to kick things up a gear and secure the win.

With Hammers pressuring the Hackney attack, strong defensive work on the edges gave us a lineout just beyond the halfway line.

Ball secured, Sirri sent a well-aimed pass out to Tappers who smashed through the first defenders before popping off to Kaye who ran through the broken defensive line to score our fifth. Chloe J added the extras once again.

Good pressure from Lucy D from a Hackney lineout forced errors in open play. Another Tappers turnover got the ball out through the hands to Sasha for our sixth. Conversion nailed again by Chloe J

A break from the speedy Hackney winger got her deep into our half, but strong defence forced a knock on and a Hammers scrum on our 22. With the scrum moving backwards, Kaye momentarily forgot where she was on the pitch and picked and went. Through some miracle, tackles were evaded and following the slowest 100m dash in history, she crossed the line for our 7th try. Chloe J added the extras.

Securing the restart, the ball got to Tappers who (again) selflessly offloaded a cracking ball to fresh-off-the-bench Bukky who had a clear line to run in and score.
Chloe J got her points haul into double digits with another conversion.

With 10 mins to go, a beautiful catch from fullback Alex W had her weaving and dummying through the Hackney half. Drawing defenders in, she offloaded to Lily B who sprinted the final metres to score our ninth try of the day.

The closing minutes of the game saw a strong defensive effort as Hackney had no less than SEVEN attempts to get points on the board. We mauled, we rucked, Eve even threw her entire body under three Hackney players to stop a score. Final big effort from Tappers again who not only ripped the ball, but ran it almost 5 metres away from the line so we could safely kick into touch and end the game.

FT score 55-0

FOTM was Tappers for her try assists and superhuman defensive effort

BOTM was Sirri for her clever control of the backline and great decision-making

Tries x 9
Bukky x 1
Chloe E x 1
Jess C x 1
Kaye x 2
Lily x 1
Sasha x 2
Sophie T x 1

Conversions x 5
Chloe J x 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a glorious day of rugby!

The sun was shining down on Fortress Hurlingham yesterday when the teams arrived to warm up. A warm up which was extended when the ref’s arrival was slightly delayed. But this delay didn’t impact the Hammers’ preparation, the team remaining focused, knowing that we needed to bring the intensity from the first whistle. And bring it we did with Kaye smashing her way over the Wimbledon line within the first 5 minutes. A lovely conversion by Chloe J was followed up by an equally lovely penalty kick to keep the scoreboard pressure on Wimbledon at 10-0. Hammers didn’t let up there with sustained pressure on the Wimbledon defense (including what was definitely a try by Katherine) ending with Ella crossing the whitewash, converted by Chloe to make it 17-0. Chloe E was next to get in on the action with her fast feet dancing past the Wimbledon backs to give us a 24-0 lead with Chloe J’s conversion. Strong work from the Hammers scrum put Wimbledon under more pressure in their own half and getting the ball to within a metre of the line. Strong pick and go work from the forwards ended with Charlotte hammering the ball over for a lovely score to end the first half 31-0.

The second half began as the first half finished with Chloe J this time the one to make the score. Hammers kept piling the pressure on in the Wimbledon half with excellent scrums and strong work in the breakdown keeping our ball secure. This pressure told with Tappers launching across the line to score, more than making up for her denied try in our last match. A conversion from Chloe J making it 43-0. Our discipline started to fray slightly in the last 10 minutes of the game with Wimbledon getting several penalties in a row, allowing  them to make ground into the Hammers 22. After an incredible defensive effort on the line, including a great Chloe E tackle that stopped a certain try, Wimbledon eventually managed to cross the line to score. Final score 43-5.

Forward(s) of the match – Fred and Candace for incredible work rates, strong carries and tackling

Back of the match – Chloe E for great kick chasing and follow up tackles to help keep the pressure on Wimbledon

After the previous weekend’s win over Battersea Ironsides, Hammersmith and Fulham looked to take on second-place London Welsh, themselves coming to the game having lost to a tough Medway. Walking into Old Deer Park on that Saturday afternoon with the sun shining and a gentle breeze, Hammersmith and Fulham had quiet confidence that they could come away with a big win, as it had all the marking for a great day for rugby.

Taking the pitch with both sets of fans roaring for their teams, Hammersmith received the ball in their half and exited well, making Welsh play from just inside their half. Welsh began to get in their attacking structure early, going through phases until an opportunity out-wide and a missed Hammers tackle let them in.  The kick was good, giving Welsh a 7-0 lead.

The Hammers’ restart did not go well, – straight into touch.  The resulting Welsh scrum on the halfway line led to Welsh looking to strike another blow but Hammersmith’s defence forced them to cough up the bal. Quickly, Ross Anderson stepped up and put a quick crossfield kick in for Rich Vaughan on the wing, who chased hard and caused his opposite number to knock it on.  Recovered by Hammersmith, the boys looked to for width and ran hard.  Close to the line, a well-timed switch by Ross led to a 2-on-1, only to see the Welsh fullback slap the ball down down 5 meters out.  Promptly shown a big slice of cheddar (not the last slice to be given out today), Welsh’s luck held with a missed lineout from Hammersmith allowing them to exit.

Welsh looked to bring more pressure through their attack but the Hammers defence stood strong, forcing them back to their own half.  A rushed box kick from the welsh 9 fell into Tim Russell’s hand, which allowed the back three to expose the broken Welsh line, moving the ball to the wing to find Captain Joe Carolan with eclectic feet and pace to beat all challenges and run in for Hammersmith’s first try.  The kick? Missed – 7-5.

Welsh’s restart kicked long but Hammers won a penalty of the first phase allowing a nice exit. Welsh then stole the ball back and looked to make inroads into the Hammersmith defence again.  A number of strong tackles from the Hammersmith line left the Welsh looking to go wide, only for the ball to catch Tim Russell’s hand – he is sent to the walking for a 10-minute break on the side-line as the ref shows his second yellow card. Following this now with a man down Hammersmith and Fulham showed so great defence until the numbers got too much and Welsh went in again on the outside. 14-5.

The game was really starting to heat up and it looked like it could be a game for the ages with strong coming attacks from both sides as well as dynamic running.  A mid-field scrum allowed Hammersmith a platform to launch a try-scoring attack but the debutant Matt Killeen, could not pull in the last pass. Scrum to Welsh; the box went up landing in Tim’s hands, he quickly went upside-down as the Welsh player tip tackled him only to be subsequently sent off the pitch for 10 minutes with some cheddar of his own.

Welsh started giving away a flurry of penalties, but the Hammers could not break through and Welsh would keep smashing the ball as long as possible with the clearing kicks, answered by the Hammers  back three of Tim, Rich, and Matt to put some pinpoint kicks in return.

With the first half coming to the close and with tired bodies on both sides, Welsh han an opportunity for one last score after a missed call by the Hammers backs saw the ball flying off over the dead ball line. The 5-meter scrum pushed over, the Welsh scored again, and the afters made it 21-5 going into the sheds.

The second half started with speed as Hammersmith looked to bounce back.  a sharp line out on the welsh 22 allowed Rob Vaughan to galop his way into the corner with the Mullet in full flow and keeping the winger and fullback at bay! Try!! Carolan steps up from the sideline and slots the kick to make it 21-12.

With Hammersmith conceding a penalty at scrum time, welsh looks to go to the corner. The maul was met and stopped by Hammersmith, but after throwing as many bodies at it, that allowed the welsh winger to go over in the corner.  The kick this time missed, making it 26-12

Moving into the last 20 minutes of the match Welsh started to pressure the Hammers try line but with some stoic defence, Welsh elected to take 3 points and make the score 29-12. From the kick-off is Hammersmith looked to start firing on all cylinders, push on the welsh line, and get a scrum 5 meters out. The scrum platform allowed Matt Killeen to go over in the corner after some sharp lines from Pete Bicknell and fast hands again from Joe Carolan ad Tim Russell. Kicked missed making it 29-17.

Straight off the kick-off, quick hands allowed Tim Russell to get loose and make vast amounts of ground and push deep into the Welsh half, with Angus “Honk” Brown adding his barrelling run. Hammersmith looked to capitalise as Welsh give away a penalty, with Ben Dugdale quickly tapping and going and putting us on the front foot.  Alex Spicer and Tom Proctor threw their bodies into carries, then the ball flies outback and with a half break and an offload, Matt Killeen goes in again for his second, (should have been third). The kick is good 29-24.  Can Hammersmith and Fulham pull this one back from the brink?

The boys certainly felt we could – the restart cames and again quick hands looking to make holes in the defence of Welsh, but better yet a penalty!!! A big kick gave us some good mid-field ball off a line. Another big carry from Pete Bicknell, like he had done all day. But a miss-targeted offload almost lead to another slap down but the welsh players came up with it. Time was up and with a kick to touch that was the game, 29-24

On Saturday, Hammersmith and Fulham 2^nd XV hosted Chiswick 2^nd XV in the final league game of the year. With the competition standings still undecided, there was everything to play for.

Due to the number of changes to the 2s squad, since the London Welsh game, the conventional warm up was forgone and replaced with a classic “state your name” introductory school circle. Following the exchange of pleasantries, the standard preparation resumed, but it was clear that the team was struggling to find that final spark that would bring their game to life.

Nevertheless, the game kicked off, with Hammersmith playing into the blinding sun as well as against the tempestuous wind. It was clear that the boys were facing an uphill struggle as no more than five minutes into the game, Chiswick broke the white line following an interception from just within the Hammer’s half. The attrition of the game began to take its toll on the Hammersmith forwards as both Milo Storey and Oliver Whitnell were forced to leave the field early to enjoy the ambience of A&E. We are wishing them both a speedy recovery.

The difficulties to connect that the 2s felt pre-game, clearly had carried over into the game. Despite lots of possession within the Chiswick 22, Hammersmith and Fulham squandered numerous opportunities due to poor handling, silly penalties and an errant lineout throw from Hugh Symons that landed at the feet of Max Dugdale, our fly half, securing Hugh his award of DoTD. These struggles weighed heavy on the team entering half time, however, the spirited, positive interpersonal skills of Nugget and Cookie brought some wind back to the sails of the 2^nd XV.

Those sails were immediately torn as Chiswick capitalised on a Hammersmith yellow card, scoring under the posts and turning the screws on the 2^nd XV. The game remained physical and closely contested as the game ticked over to 60 minutes with the scoreboard showing 12-12 and as the season hung in the balance both teams fought hard to break the deadlock.

It is difficult to pinpoint the factor that turned the game in the Hammer’s favour. Some would suggest it was a lightning-fast hat-trick from MoM player Ed Hayes or well worked tries for Sam Nursery and Luke Kavanaugh. Most rugby critics would agree that it was the ability of impact substitute Dougie Maxwell to stand at the back of a maul and fall over the line to score the penultimate try. Who can say? In the final quarter of the game, the stars aligned and the team found its chemistry to pull five late tries out.

The score does not represent the game and credit must be given to Chiswick for a hard-fought game to the very end. As the final whistle heralded the end of the game, the Hammersmith crowd let out a sigh of relief as the 2^nd XV managed to secure the winning bonus point. The 2^nd XV now look forward to their cup and playoff campaigns.

MoM: Ed Hayes

DOTD: Hugh Symons