A Match of Two Acts

Chiswick RFC's season starts with a bang - Mill Hill 5 Chiswick 21

The season started with a bang for Chiswick, resplendent in new gear, with the late September warmth persuading players to throw the ball around.

This is Chiswick’s metier, and it was no surprise when they went into the lead after ten minutes. Seizing upon a loose opposition kick, Chiswick’s No 8 Nick Pritchard roared off downfield, with Mill Hill players bouncing off him. Succumbing eventually to sheer weight of numbers, Nick got the ball to scrum half Will Ulstein. Will whipped it out to Lee Miller on the left wing, and after cutting sharply in, Lee gave a short pass to Mark Jones, who sped diagonally through a despairing defence, leaving bodies lying all over the home half of the field, to score near the right corner. Keith Luckman got a good conversion.

After Mill Hill had missed an easy penalty kick, good defensive work by new flanker Rory Fletcher and lock Mike Sampson led to the ubiquitous Pritchard coming away with the ball and slipping an exquisite pass to Miller well within the Chiswick half. The winger showed a clean pair of heels to the defence, rounding the last cover and touching down under the posts. Luckman again converted.

Full of confidence, Chiswick began to put more consistent pressure on the home team, and it was Pritchard again who got behind the home pack, as they tried to open up after a good maul, chipped the ball on, retrieved it himself and gave another scoring pass to Jones. Luckman added the points and all looked fair for a cricket score. Unfortunately, Pritchard had taken a knock, and had to be substituted. Twenty-five minutes in and end of Act one.

Act two had a different script. Home forward power began to tell, and with an interesting spin-the-scrum tactic, involving a powerful prop retreating in the face of a much lighter Chiswick man, Chiswick found it harder to get good ball. An inability to retrieve loose balls became apparent, and although the Chiswick defence remained good, it was the home team who were generally in charge, to the frustration of the Chiswick backs.

The first half finished with Mill Hill camped on the Chiswick line, and only good work by Ulstein and by Ben Maguire, who relieved a home forward of the ball after he had crossed the try line prevented a deserved home score.

The second half was scrappy, with the defences generally on top. Chiswick defended excellently when the Mill Hill backs ran the ball, but failed to get turnovers, and Luckman was forced into a defensive kicking game, with Chiswick penned in their own half. Mill Hill’s lineout work was very solid on their own throws, as was their scrummaging, and Chiswick only had occasional crumbs to play with. Suddenly a flash of the first half form. New right wing Ben Edgson catches a ball in defence, and with no room skips around a couple of marauding attackers. Going infield he’s still under great pressure, but keeps his head and avoids a couple more tackles. Out on the left wing he’s finally tackled, but releases the ball for it to be kicked up into the home 22. Miller and Sampson are up very quickly, and Maguire is involved as the ball goes quickly to Jones. A score looks imminent, but the final pass is knocked on. Vintage Chiswick !

Inevitably it seems, Mill Hill eventually managed to maul over the line for a good score, but the kick failed. The final twenty minutes saw some tiring tackling, but as the Chiswick defence remained solid, the home team ran out of ideas, and there was no further score.

Chiswick team :- Donaldson, Nicholls, Betts, Sampson, Nicolle ( Pickering E ), Maguire, Fletcher, Pritchard ( Pickering A ), Ulstein, Luckman, Miller, Coffey, Jones, Edgson ( Slattery ), Hammond

September 25, 2006