Chiswick’s Ship Crashes On To Black Rocks

Rugby result: London New Zealand 19 Chiswick 15

Rearranged fixtures should not have the effects of this one, Chiswick finding themselves dipping deep into the reserves to cope with the numerous cry-offs, the excuses apparently ranging from the good through the dubious to the faintly ridiculous. In the event those who played gave 100%, and could have salvaged this match, and the season, only a last man tackle bringing down a winged Tom Duffy on his way to the line in the final sortie of the game.

Right from the start Chiswick were struggling in the lineouts, and to a lesser extent in the scrums, and London New Zealand gained more and more confidence as the match progressed. A simple penalty kick after five minutes put the hosts in front, but they immediately conceded an almost identical kick, which Tom Duffy slotted. He then failed with an ambitious attempt from around fifty metres. The home team soon took the first scrum against the head, and Tom Adams was required to do some good defensive work, after which he made a great lineout take. Both Al Pickering and then Stuart Parmeter got close to scoring, but the vital spark was missing.

Pickering did a vicious ripping job on an efficient home maul which was threatening the Chiswick defence and then Pete Townsend managed to get his legs in position to divert a dangerous looking grubber kick with no defender behind him. LNZ began stepping up the pressure, and Chiswick, putting in a lot of tackles, eventually conceded another kickable penalty. This was considered over by the touch judges despite a late swerve over the top of the post as the wind caught it. LNZ were finding it easy with fifteen players, so they reduced themselves to fourteen and then thirteen via yellow cards. Chiswick thought they had spotted a trick, and refused to score.

With LNZ back to fourteen in the second half, Luckman just failed with an interception, which could have been very interesting. New lock Martin Gisby was beginning to settle down as Chiswick tried to probe the home defence. LNZ seemed to get more players to each breakdown when they got back to full strength, and after missing a long penalty kick, a good move from the Chiswick kick-off culminated in inter-passing between their lock, outside centre and full back, the latter touching down wide out. This was ten minutes into the half.

Ben Cheston did a fantastic take of a wayward kick, wriggled past a couple of defenders and hared off for the line. Duffy came up fast on the outside, but Cheston passed inside where the ball bounced off a defender. With lots of handling movements, LNZ worked their way up to the Chiswick 22, and won an easy penalty kick. Twenty minutes in, and Chiswick were looking a bit ragged. LNZ took pity, and lost a player to a red card. Chiswick looked suspiciously at this Trojan horse, and were undecided.

The LNZ fourteen were throwing the ball around with some élan, and their No.8 set up another try, touched down by their sub. No conversion, and ten minutes to go. Chiswick re-considered their options, and decided to attack. The home team seemed to resent this, and the result was an unpleasant bust up with fists flying. This left thirteen versus fourteen for the final session, which was won comfortably by Chiswick. Graham Robbings had a couple of attempts at the line before John Gibson made it look easy, for a simple Duffy conversion.

The next scoring move started on the Chiswick 22, Shane Donaldson and a colleague persuading the home back to let them have the ball before Luckman let loose the traces for Cheston to streak downfield with Simon Hallett and Duffy in support. The latter touched down in the corner, but couldn’t kick the conversion. Hallett and Duffy combined again as Chiswick ran the ball desperately from their 22, but it was not to be a glory day.

Chiswick team :- Donaldson, Joubert, Parmeter ( Addison ), Gisby, Chraplewczyk, Adams ( McDonald ), Robbings, Pickering, Fabreche, Luckman, Townsend ( Halliwell ), Gibson, Cheston, Hallett, Duffy

March 15, 2010