Hammersmith and Fulham RFC – the 1s and 2s – travelled to Horsham for their second last match of the 2023-24 season, and after enduring a brief but very intense hailstorm in one of their more unusual warm-ups they took to the field full of energy and determined to achieve their first win in since Marlborough.

The Hammers were facing a home side that, after having their relegation confirmed the previous week due to a bit result, were playing their last home match of the season. On the Hammers side, the boys were keen to put in a performance and show they had teh skills and ability of a club that deserved to play level 5.  

It was a game of 2 halves, with the first being a tale of strong defence but muddled and inconsistent attack, but the 2nd showing that the boys were lethal in attack, but foiled by their old enemy – penalties, ill-discipline, and mental lapses.

Starved of ball, for the 1st 30 minutes, the Hammers bravely kept a hungry Horsham tryless.  Time and again, the Horsham forwards powered towards the Hammers line, only to met by a resolute defence and an efficient set piece.  Unfortunately, the lack of accuracy in attack and constant penalties for high tackles – 5 in the first half alone – revealed a Hammers team that was lacking cohesion, and getting inside their own heads.  Eventually, Horsham’s constant probing paid off, probing outside the 15, and going wide off multiphase play and finding space.  Twice they would exploit that overlaps and poor tackling to run in tries, before powering over under the posts for a 3rd try shortly before half time.  The Hammers were yet to get on the board, and the boys were frustrated.

It took until the 50^th minute for the boys to get off the bus, when Hammers star winger Tim ‘Le Snack’ Russell hit a devastating line off a first-phase backs move and raced clear of the covering defence to score Hammer’s first try of the game, and Timmy’s 18^th of the season. Score? 22-7 on the scoreboard and – according to Timmy – a typical example of Tim “dragging his teammates from their stupor to ignite a fightback, as he has done so often this season” (spoken in 3rd person). 

Hammers suffered a tough blow when the heart and soul of the side, James ‘Mad Dog’ Madigan, in one of his last matches before departing for Paris next season, absolutely butchered a 3 v 1, taking the ball into contact with the sole defender and upon realising his error decided to stay prone and feign an injury to his knee. Karma was to come for him later that evening when the bus driver decided to test his brakes whilst James was giving it the beans at the front with an unrequested stand-up routine. Rumour has it Bastards skipper Jack Watters had slipped the bus driver a tenner…

With Hammers trailing by 3 scores and chasing the game hard, mistakes ensued and Horsham were more than capable of taking advantage of these. The two sides traded blows, with who else but Timmy – matching his own club record with his 19^th score of the season – after some great passing put Marshall MacLeod and then Joe Carolan into space, before Joe fed Timmy for yet another meat pie. Tim’s 19 scores leave him joint top of the league in this regard, at the time of writing, and in such scintillating form it would be a brave man to bet against him getting a hattrick against Welsh, for the second time this season, and securing the try-scoring title. 

 To mark his generosity and the breadth of his skillset, after making yet another break down his wing, Tim Russell threw an audacious offload back inside to centre MacLeod, and he scampered over the line to gratefully dot down for his first try of the season before quickly slotting the conversion as time pressed on and Hammers were 20 points shy of Horsham on the scoreboard.

Ultimately, a loose first half and sloppy mistakes at crucial points throughout the match were too much of an obstacle to overcome, and Horsham deservedly finished runaway winners and 20 points to the good. A very strong performance over the ball earned their openside flanker the Man of the Match award, whilst for the Hammers with 2 tries and one assist who else could it possibly have been, but Le Snack himself. As talented as he is handsome, already the calls for him to assume the captaincy next year are becoming deafening.

 Hammers move on to face London Welsh at Old Deer Park for the final match of the season in a fortnight’s time in their last game of the 2023/24 season.

Hammers 1^st  team continued on the road this week with a ‘short’ commute out to Marlborough, for the clubs 2^nd fixture of 2024. The commute of course, included the traditional away bus quiz, in which Head Coach Mark, Lewis Litt (Big Josh) and Mad dog Maddigan took the win with a questionable 39/50 questions correct. The winning teams’ debateable proximity to the Quiz Master, Stephen Harris caused an outrage. It almost brought the tradition into disrepute and risked dividing the team before a minute of rugby had been played.

This weeks’ fixture was the second time the 1^st team had faced Marlborough RFC this season – some may remember (or have tried to forget) witnessing the Hammers drop in the final minutes and in typical Hammers fashion… losing at Home by less than a try. For the Hammers, it was an important game – going into the day, the Hammers remained steady on the ladder in 8^th place with 29 points, Brighton sitting above at 7^th with 35 points, and Maidenhead trailing closely behind on 21 points.

The day was clear, the air a brisk but thankfully dry 1-2 degrees. The Hammers lost the toss, forced to kick-off but running downhill.  Frustratingly, and is their way, they decided to also set themselves up for an up-hill battle, the opening kick-off going 10 meters backwards not forwards. “Never send a back to do a forwards job” could be heard from front row veteran and club stalwart, Rogan, celebrating his 38^th lap around the sun that week.

The first 20 minutes saw each team come away with a penalty goal, with VC Joe Carolan, (now 2^nd highest points scorer in the division (114)) knocking 3 points through the posts. Marlborough followed up quickly with an unconverted try, to which the Hammers quickly responded, with Tim Russel scoring not once but twice,  one under the post and one of the back of a driving mall. With both converted again by Joe, the boys started to feel comfortable.

It was not to be like that for long. Marlborough, known for their size and physicality, began to play to their strengths, putting several of the lads through their paces and testing shoulders and ribs. There was a notable late hit on James Maddigan, which could be heard from the sideline, however, the Hammers also contributed their fair share of questionable hits, with back row enforcer, Harry “Sid” Scarr sent to the bin in the final minutes of the 1^st half with a yellow card. This yellow could easily have been a red as, from some angles, Sid almost decapitated the opposition winger, but the Hammers managed to fight out the rest of the 1^st half without conceding another point (while being a player down). First half score 8 -20

What followed was a second half battle between the Hammers running rugby and Marlborough’s size and physicality. One more try from the Hammers, scored and converted by Joe. Not long after this, one arsey kick led to a late try in the 2^nd half for Marlborough, shifting the momentum into the hands of the home side. Hammers still had a marginal lead, which sensed a repeat of their first encounter with the home side and proceeded to lift accordingly. Our line was assailed, our sideline groaned – another late game loss was on the cards…

Que the bomb squad – the notorious and welcome return of Matt Killeen and Ricky Drewitt, who joined the game after both had a short stint away from the club. Putting out one of their better defensive sets of the season, and despite Marlborough scoring another (almost identical try) in the corner and almost levelling the score to 27-30. we managed to hold out and eventually see out the final whistle for the win.

Final score 27-30  to the Hammers.  Elation. Joy.  And Hammers ending the day with 33 points on the ladder.

Special mentions go to the Man of the Match – Alex Spicer who also celebrated his 50^th Cap for the Hammers 1^st team.