Saturday 12^th September 2009

London 1 North (Level 6)

Grasshoppers 7 Hammers 30

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After a long and rigorous pre-season the Hammers took to the field in anger for the first time. Against a Grasshoppers side that finished several places above them last season. With JPG returning to the fold alongside Dave Mannion and Mark Blyghton deciding to take another term at first team captain, a Hammers side with a few new faces took to the freshly aerated ground in Isleworth.

In his first act of captaincy Blyghts lost the toss and the home side decided to receive and play up the hill. From the kick off the Hammersmith forwards showed they were not to be pushed around. In a show of force Barry “Wine” O’Sullivan, Nick “Lego” Ball and Ryan “The Face” Dilley nailed the opposition blindside who fumbled the ball, from the resulting scrum a penalty was conceded and James “Speedo” Weeks duly converted. Grasshoppers began to show their route one game plan, trying to knock back the Hammersmith inside defence with little gain. During these moments was the only lapse of the day in the Hammers defence, from a set piece they were found short on the openside with the winger finishing of a good move to score a converted try Grasshoppers were up 7-3. After this moment the Hammers turned on the style and the backs showed a fresh turn of pace, “Speedo” finishing off good phase play but missing the conversion Hammers up 8-7.

With the backs moving across the gainline with ease, particularly through Tom “Needs a New Nickname” Parkinson and Ben “Where’s Adam” Rumble, the Hammersmith forwards were inspired to release quick ball and continue to disrupt the Grasshoppers lineout. Particularly at the front where Will “Cocktail” Milward was a particular nuisance stealing a number of Grasshoppers throws with one leading to man-of-the-match Tom “Legs” Kenward opening his account for the season.

On the half hour with the Hammers 13-7 up, a welcome return to Chris “I’ll only be gone four months” Hird was cut short due to a back injury. This led to the introduction of Hugh “Nickname Pending” Campbell, a welcome addition to the front row. Grasshoppers continued to attempt to blast through the midfield but the Hammers defence was more than man enough and the half ended 13-7 to the Hammers.

With Hammersmith now playing up the hill the home side were looking to press home there weight advantage up front, but with the away side in such a defiant mood it was only a matter of time before the big men of Grasshoppers would tire in the heat. With an improved scrum the hammers began to turn the screw and from a lineout “Pending” scored on his debut from a maul driven over from 10 meters. This brought a tear to the eye of the tight five, who suffered from a lack of scoring opportunities last season. Helped on by Ian Burbedge’s gruelling fitness sessions Hammersmith continued to dominate possession and territory. A late try to top a fine performance by “The Face” was converted by “Speedo” who added a late penalty to bring his tally to 15 points for the day.

A hugely rewarding scoreline of 30-7 was the result of the hard preseason by the players and the coaches, particularly of Dave Manion who has had to coach over 70 players single handed during the summer. Plus, having had to make changes to the picked side due to hamstrings and late illness made the result even sweeter.

Grasshoppers match report

The first day of a new league season always creates an air of excitement and expectancy for the coming season but this was particularly heightened as Grasshoppers had designated this as a “Club Day” to kick off their 60th season. So before the game there was a volunteers Lunch after which they were entertained by training sessions and games from G’s Mini Section as well as an interclub game between the 3rds and 4ths. All of which, helped build to the 1st VX game against Hammersmith & Fulham. G’s played up the slope in the first half keen to jell together the relatively new side but found themselves under pressure for the first quarter of the game. This gave Hammersmith & Fulham a number of early chances to score but only capitalised on a penalty goal to break the deadlock. This urged G’s into action so with good ball retention in the forwards used well by the backs it bore fruit with a well taken try by winger Tom Wodhouse which Gerwyn Hughes converted. G’s continued to press up the slope but lost the ability to retain possession which allowed the visitors to moved ahead at the break 7-13 with 2 unconverted tries. G’s started the second half in lively fashion and looked likely to score but the visitors held firm and made the 4th quarter of the game their own as they moved the score up to 30 points with 2 converted tries and a penalty.