Round 4 Hayes Away
Final Score: 0 – 48 Win
Man of the Match: Dave April
Dick of the Day: Martin Holley
Squad:
1 Alex Raue
2 Adam Clarke
3 Rainier Deysel
4 Will Kosek
5 Xander Bobir
6 Rob Wixey
7 Luke Rhind
8 Rhys Davies
9 Dave April
10 Slade Siameja
11 Martin Holley
12 Michael Buchan
13 John Sanger
14 Troy Clayton
15 Tom Rouse
16 Chima Kalagbor
Write-up:
There were no signs of the lingering summer weather on Saturday as the classic grey London cloud descended, bringing with it wind and rain and sending thermometers spiralling. Many an Englishman would’ve woken up gleefully exhaling “perfect conditions for some “real” rugby” (aka 8 players, a boot and a healthy dose of whinging). With only 16 players available and 10 of them being forwards it turned out to be the right kind of day to have an extra forward on the field and Magic Mikey Buchan was assigned to his annual foray into the wonderful world of backs.
Hayes were already out warming up by the time the first Quintin player had arrived which, coupled with their healthy numbers and 2 – 1 record, added emphasis to their intent. Winning the toss Quintin kicked deep and set about pinning Hayes inside their defensive end. They had a number of big bodies in their pack and liked their odds bashing it up around the fringes – what they weren’t aware of was VC Luke Rhind was making his return, for weeks dreaming about dishing a few shoulders out and didn’t miss an opportunity all game. Finding no ground to be made Hayes kicked for territory which gave the lads an attacking line out and Buchan his first chance to carry against some much smaller backs, making deep in roads the forwards picked quickly swung around and sucked in more backs, stretched for numbers the ball went hands down the line and Sanger was a sure bet to score before having the ball dislodged by the final defender as he cut back inside.
With short in-goals the Hayes 10 was scrambling to clear and put it straight down the centre, Rouse committed early and took a great catch sliding forward on both knees, carrying the momentum he got back to his feet and went straight through the first line of defence, stepping right he found space and started weaving through the broken backfield before dropping the shoulder and driving the final defender over the line to complete what must be an early contender for try of the season.
From the restart Kosek climbed high with a fantastic take in tough conditions and two strong carries gave the opportunity for backs to put up an attacking bomb, swirling nicely the fullback got nowhere near it and a kind bounce took it to 5m out, turning to find a solid red and green wall approaching he tried to clear, but finding nothing but fresh air with his boot all he actually did was throw the ball directly into Slades path, who accepted the gift and dotted down under the posts.
So far it was a replica of last weeks very controlled start and with that in mind the boys didn’t want to repeat the lapse that allowed Hanwell back into the game and with a good kicking game and solid set piece at both the lineout and scrum the boys continued to control the territory and play in the right areas of the field. The game tightened up and a few condition-related errors kicked in making it a bit to-and-fro before Sanger made up for his earlier error running into space and showing a turn of speed to cross the line and slot the conversion to give Quintin a handy 19 – 0 halftime lead.
Chima came off the bench fresh and straight away brought energy and physicality, making a busting run that gave front foot ball immediately. Slade took advantage of doglegged defensive line to slice through and with only one left to beat… drew the fullback and PASSED! BACKWARDS! to Sanger who cantered in for his second 5 pointer. Great defence with the forwards refusing to give an inch and Buchan turning over his opposite at will and the pressure continued to squeeze Hayes into mistakes with Slade and Sanger trading more tries, both in the left hand corner, before Troy put his full skillset on display putting a tantalising grubber into space which popped up perfectly into the path of The Zambezi Express at top speed as Slade matched Sangers Hat-trick. This will give Slade a chance to complete the elusive Meja Hat-trick™ (a hat-trick of hat-tricks) at the next run-out against Old Streetonians.
Quintin were running riot by now and but for;
· A howler of a call from the referee, calling another perfect pass from Troy forward, Slade could’ve had a fourth,
· a howler of a catch from DotD Martin to drop a pass 4m out with no defence in sight, and
· an unlucky break for Chima having the ball dislodged as he dove for the line,
The scoreboard could have been really damaging. As it was an 8th try was scored as Sanger set sail for his fourth, only to trip himself up 10metres from the line. Luckily he still had the presence of mind to pop it up to the supporting Wixey who got the forwards on the board, which was some justice for the hard yards and solid platform they had managed to make in miserably muddy foundations. It was that platform which had allowed MotM Dave April to control the tempo, pick the right moments to clear, run or kick and deliver cleanly in challenging conditions.
A key statistic was that we only conceded 4 penalties in the game and this meant Hayes had to fight hard for every inch, the pressure was never released and we were able to capitalise on the eventual error.
Next Weeks Information:
London Scottish have forfeited and therefore we have a BYE and ticket to pass directly to the second round of the knock-out Merit Vase competition.