Saturday 28^th January 2012

London 1 North (Level 6)

Ruislip 32 Hammers 31

The Hammers made the trip to North West Middlesex to play local rivals Ruislip in a highly anticipated game for both teams. Straight from the kick off the Hammers took the game to Ruislip and forced a line out in their half, which a Ruislip player took quickly and somehow threw the ball directly into the hands of Nick Ball who accepted the gift and ran away unopposed to score the opening try after only a minutes play. Neil McClure kicked the conversion to make the score 0-7 to the Hammers. From the re-start the Ruislip forwards infringed at a ruck and Neil McClure stepped up again and kick the penalty to make the score 0-10. The Hammers forwards were now in charge and forcing the Ruislip players to make mistakes and from a breakdown the Ruislip backs came up offside and Neil McClure calmly kick over the penalty to increase the Hammers lead to 0-13 after 15 minutes of play. The back row of James Boysons, Steve Harrington and Nick Ball were winning the battle at the breakdowns proving good ball for Neil Richardson (a late substitute at scrum half after Oliver Peters was too ill to start the match) to launch the Hammers backs into several attacks at the Ruislip defence. From one of these phases of play, Richard Braithwaite made an incisive break from just inside his own half and beat several players before passing inside to Alex Ratcliffe who scored under the posts. Neil McClure converted the try making the score 0-20. Things were going so well for the away side that they relaxed and allowed Ruislip back into the game by giving away two unnecessary penalties in quick succession that Ruislip made good use of to get within 5 metres of the Hammers try line. From the lineout, Ruislip did a catch and drive and rumbled over for a try in the corner that was not converted to make the score 5-20. This try spurred Ruislip into life, as they now had the upper hand in the scrums making life difficult for the Hammers to control their own ball. From this pressure Ruislip were able to pin down the Hammers in their own half for some time and eventually they got their second try after a missed tackle out wide which allowed the Ruislip player to sprint to the try line under the posts. This try was converted making the score 12-20. The game supremacy had changed in the last 10 minutes and Ruislip were putting all the pressure on the Hammers forwards at the rucks and breakdowns and driving them back into their half of the field. From a 5 metre scrum Ruislip secured the ball at the base of the scrum and drove over the line to score a converted try making the score now 19-20 in this exciting game. The Hammers had a chance to increase their lead just before half time when James Boysons made a fantastic break from the 10 metre line in his half and looked certain to score, but was just tackled short of the line when he was caught in two minds whether to pass to his supporting players or go it alone, so the opportunity was missed.

Ruislip came out strongly at the start of the second half using their bigger forwards to drive at the heart of the Hammers defence and at one of the numerous rucks the Hammers gave away a penalty which the Ruislip fly-half kicked to make the score 22-20. With both sets of supporters adding their voice to encourage their respective teams the game became very tactical, with both sides looking to put boot to the ball to gain territorial advantage. From a line out the Hammers moved the ball quickly through the backs were it reach Alex Ratcliffe who made good ground and set up a ruck which Ruislip illegally slowed down the ball giving away a kickable penalty, that Neil McClure put through the posts to make the score 22-23 to the Hammers. The Hammers from the re-start moved the ball through several hands setting up many good attacking platforms that pushed Ruislip back just inside their 22 metre line. From a line out that was won by Bart Casagrande the forwards set up a maul and drove towards the Ruislip line. The ball was taken on by Alex Scarrett and Mark Blyghton before the ball made its way to the backs and from a set move Henry Tanner crashed over for a well worked try. Neil McClure conversion kick came back off a post, so the score remained 22-28 to the Hammers with about 10 minutes left in the match. The Hammers forwards kept the ball for a few minutes and Ruislip infringed at a maul to give another kicking opportunity to Neil McClure who made the kick look easy and increased the Hammers lead to 22-31 with 5 minutes left in the game. Ruislip now threw everything at the Hammers who defence held firm. Ruislip got a penalty just outside the Hammers 22 metre line which they kicked to make the score 25-31. From the re-start Ruislip put the Hammers under tremendous pressure again but our defence was solid and Ruislip could not get into a position to score a try and it seem that time was running out for them to win the game. Hammers gave away a penalty on the half way line and Ruislip kicked for territory that took then inside the Hammers 22 metre area in the last minute of the match. The Hammers stole the line out ball and seemed to have everything under control to kick the ball to touch to end the game, but somehow the ball was thrown out of the ruck by one of the Hammers forwards toward fly-half Toby Harris, who quickly had two Ruislip forwards on him and he was held up in the tackle. The referee awarded a scrum to Ruislip on the 5 metre line in the very last play of the game. Ruislip won the scrum and moved the ball wide where it was re-cycled and they created enough space for their winger to score in the right hand corner, making the score 30-31 with the conversion to come. Everyone held their breath as the Ruislip fly-half took the conversion. The ball seemed to hang in the air for a long while, but it sailed through the posts to give Ruislip the winning score of 32-31, as the final whistle was blown.

The Hammers team was devastated as they left the field. They had played really well and deserved to win this game. This narrow defeat has now made their job of staying in this league even harder, with only a handful of games left to play.