The 1s win a famous victory!
Sunday morning, I wake up in a cold sweat. head pounding with few memories from the night before thanks to a successful Hammerween- I had a nightmare in which Max Dugdale is the club’s leading try scorer. Shaking, I reached for my phone and tried to piece together what had happened the day before…. A Happy Hammerween it was.
Hammers turned up to Camberley fashionably late- A tactical tweak made by our bus driver, who seemed to believe that a shortened warm up would provide the fast start that we had been missing.
Inspired by Marshall’s quiz and the assurances of immortality should the lads manage to be the first Hammers team to defeat Camberley away from home, the lads strode out and decided the best form of attack was in fact defence. Of the 40 minutes in the first half, Hammers defended for approximately 35, conceding 1 try and 2 yellow cards. Despite this alarming start, Hammers were defending with vigor- Josh and Dan’s akimbo throwing themselves at anything that moved. Hammers also managed to avoid conceding any points during the yellow card periods (Josh and Joe for some well crafted gamesmanship, perfected on the training ground, but caught by the referee).
The smiles were there to see for their first “W” of the season!
Back up to our full 15, Hammers managed to retain the ball for longer than 3 phases and from a strong scrum, a slick Hammers set piece resulted in Max Dugdale – “tap in” merchant – dotting down in the corner for our first points of the game on the stroke of half time. Joe was unable to convert from the touchline, but it was an all important momentum swing for the lads leading in to the half, or so we thought as Camberley immediately responded with a try of their own- Hammers 5-12 Camberley.
Half Time, and some stirring words from Ryan.
With the lads motivated by a strong defensive half and clear chances to be had with ball in hand, there was hope for some points on the road, however within 5 minutes Camberley had managed to wriggle over from short range and made a comeback even tougher for a team with an impressive home record. However, the Hammers were not to be defeated that easily and from 17-5 down, the remainder of the second half provided a polar opposite performance from both teams, with Hammers taking control of possession and field position. A flowing hammers backs move allowed Tim to break wide with Hammers flooding through to support. The ball inside to Gregor and a right foot step sent him under the sticks for a 7 pointer, converted by Joe. Hammers sensed an upset on the cards. Two well taken tries from Joe, both self-converted, sent the away fans in to delirium and Bryce Morgan to show tremendous touchline mana in front of Rogan’s camera.
With a twitchy 9 point lead and Ryan’s command of ‘CONTROL!’ ringing in the ears of the lads, ‘Fan of free pints’, Gregor decided that a quick restart was the right option – perhaps a certain Frenchman’s style of quick and purposeful Rugby was still fresh in his mind from last season? Despite this, Hammers defended like their lives depended on it for the remaining minutes of the half and with Camberley in possession just outside of the 22, forced a turnover which Gregor duly booted out, completing the win.
A first win of the season for Hammers and hopefully, a sign of things to come with performances improving week-on-week and tries beginning to flow. A rest week next up and then we welcome Jersey to fortress Hurlingham for a double header.
Man of the Match – Joe Carolan
