Chiswick chest the tape

Rugby Result - Old Emanuel 13   Chiswick 20

Three points down with five minutes left, and both sides having given their all, curtains loomed for the visitors.

Fly half Keith Luckman, having earlier evoked groans from the fans when an attempted drop goal went wide, was given a smooth blind-side pass by scrum-half Glen Ambrose within the home 22. Outside him, wing Simon Slattery was ready to make a last charge of many at Emanuel’s defence. Two against three, Luckman suddenly zipped between his two markers to touch down, to ecstatic applause from the Chiswick supporters.

Two minutes later, centre Mark Jones made a mid-field break, got the ball back near the line, and somehow twisted round and fell over the line after being brought to a standstill by the still obdurate defence to deliver the coup de grace.             

Powergen Junior Vase Cup matches do not come much tenser than this end-to-end affair, although the quality of the rugby was being described in four letter words at the end. Well-matched packs cancelled each other out, and in the backs it was Chiswick’s strength against Emanuel’s speed. The impressive Ambrose harried his opponent mercilessly, thus restricting the attacking options of the home team. Basic  errors on both sides were so plentiful that the referee was rarely able to play decent length advantages, thus preventing any real flow in the game.             

After a couple of missed penalty kicks, Emanuel opened the scoring with a penalty. Near half time, efficient lineout work gave Chiswick centre “Chaos” Kruger a little room, and he slipped a pass to Slattery, who got over from ten metres out. Luckman converted, and got a penalty minutes later. The second half produced a home surge, and their fullback swerved through a rooted Chiswick defence to score a superb individual try, duly converted.             

With inspirational running by Ambrose and substitute full-back Sam Brown, and great effort by the other subs, Chiswick put on the pressure in the later stages, and although going behind to another Emanuel penalty, the visitors looked more likely to score. Excellent supporting work by prop Graham Johnson was followed by a surging run nearly to the line, and it was only desperate defending that kept the visitors out before the nail-biting finale.  

Chiswick team :-  Johnson ( Donaldson ), Nichols ( Pickering ), Campbell, Smith, Chraplewczyk, Vinden, Maguire ( Pickering ), Pritchard, Ambrose, Luckman, Slattery, Kruger, Jones, Zakrevsky, Hammond ( Brown ). 

October 21, 2005