Third Time Unlucky

With their ground and ours unavailable the familiar Chiswick ground of Dukes meadow would be the venue for the Chough’s play-off semi-final versus the table topping HAC 2s, two weeks after a high scoring 28 – 38 loss at home in the final regular league game of the season.

Having fielded 101 players in our 18 games this season, fielding a side consisting of players that had already run out in Choughs colours this year wasn’t going to be difficult and the 20 man squad was easily overly subscribed the final squad containing another who’s who of London Cornish players.

With the flip winning skills I wish I possessed in cards (#pokerreference) I won my 14th of 18 this season and we kicked off, I’ll make no comment on Phil’s opening kick but it resulted in our first chance to use our heavyweight pack in a scrum to win the ball back against the head.

Straight from the start it was clear this was going to be a high intensity game for this level with plenty of players on both sides very capable of playing much higher than Merit league rugby, big hits and strong defence keeping the game tight.

Our 45 minutes of pre-game lineout practice failed to help us much as HACs quick second rows managed to steal the majority of our throw-ins, the oppositions influential number 8 was being closed down much quicker this week by our fired up makeshift back row and man mountain scrum half Ali Lindsay. This forced them to try less direct routes and our scramble defence out wide did well to make most tackles.

After several phases HAC found themselves with a penalty inside our 22 (no way did I tackle their 9 too early….) and their big fly-half took the 3 points.

I have little idea as to the order of what happened next so will resort to my stand ‘Rugby happened for a bit’. After missing a penalty of our own to even up the scores they did score the next try and we found ourselves 8-0 down.

After some phases within the HAC half, Barbados winger and younger brother of Choughs lynchpin Ali, Jules Springer found a great line to put the ball down to the right of the posts. Conversion missed and the score was 8 -5.

Unfortunately HAC were soon to open up the lead again with a try somewhere… conversion missed and the score was 13-5.
After 25 mins of throwing myself at the HAC number 8 and taking a couple of boots to the head I subbed myself off for, Club Stalwart and (former) Surrey Lock big Pete Calvert to add some more height and weight to the second row, with a surprisingly sober Alex Coates dropping back into the backrow to fill my space.

Seeing stars and talking my usual s**t on the sidelines with a ‘huge’ crowd boosted by our other games being cancelled and some Dukes on the piss, the rugby continued to happen on the pitch. Another great inside line being run by Jules, managed to beat several opposition players while running 30 yards and diving between the posts. Conversion made and the score was close again at 13-12.

To the delight of the crowd, the Chiswick destroyer Matthew ‘Banter’ Pollard was on in the front row at the ground where he had fluked a hat trick earlier in the season. Josh Dickinson earning a well deserved break after some great earlier scrummaging and remaining slightly more calm than on his previous substitution!

I think HAC must have scored another penalty at some point, otherwise my maths is deserting me, but I have a feeling it was 16-12 at the half.

Half time brought Rob Lawley and his hammer of a left boot onto the field on the wing for Elliot and hopes were high being in touching distance and with the strong breeze on our side.

Unfortunately for us, we were to see very little ball for the majority of the second half. An early HAC try putting them 21-12 up. Our defence for the majority held firm with Ali Lindsay, Tim Homan and Mark Shields in particular making plenty of big hits. Unfortunately we were struggling to turn the ball over and gave it away cheaply when we did get hold of it.

Being a mild late March day we were unsure of how ‘The man for a cold away day in January’ and another club stalwart Harry Hurst would cope, but we rolled the dice and he came on at 13 to replace Choughs regular Lloyd Jones and join the busy Mark Shields in the centres. Ryan McGregor was also on the pitch to replace Alex Coates.

HAC were playing the game well now, controlling the ball and giving us very few opportunities to get back into the game. One huge clearance kick from Phil Dale on our 22 saw a couple of unlucky bounces taking the ball over their try line and dead rather than a lineout deep in their 22.

Two comedy moments from the oppo could have put the game to bed. Firstly their winger managed to trip into the dead ball zone whilst placing a try and 10 minutes later the same player managed to drop the ball whilst over the try line, both seen straight away by the very good referee to little disagreement from the HAC team.

Ali Springer and Oli Low were off for a well-deserved rest being replaced by myself and m.o.m Josh Dickinson and although we had started to get our hands on the ball a bit more, the HAC defence was solid, counting down the clock. Their 9 doing very well in picking the ball out of a scrum that was always going backwards.

It was only at the last play that we managed to get close enough to the try line to give the big locks of Tom Stock and Pete Calvert a chance against a one man defence. Pete eventually being the man to break through and score to the left of the posts. Pete’s supporters on the day, not even noticing he scored, being too fixated on Jules by all accounts….

This score was too late and the game finished 21 -17 to HAC.

They are a good bunch of lads and there are definitely a lot of worse teams to lose to, good luck in the finals!

On our side we have achieved more than we set out at the beginning of the year with a very inconsistent team. It’s been good fun and a great platform for a title charge next year!

#upthechoughs

Team:

Oli Low, Will Murray, Josh Dickinson, Tom Stock, Alex Coates, Joby Newton ( c ), Ali Springer, Tim Homan, Ali Lindsay, Phil Dale, Elliot Bonaserra, Mark Shields, Lloyd Jones, Jules Springer, Thom Lang.

SUBS (All Used): Pete Calvert, Matt Pollard, Harry Hurst, Rob Lawley, Ryan McGregor