Friendly, 8th September 2007

Hamians 46 - Boots 7

HAMIANS TRIUMPH AGAIN



In what has been suggested will be an Indian Summer HAMIANS were pleased to play at home in early September . In arriving Abolton I was puzzled at what was different , the river , the elevated clubhouse , lycra clad rowers , Canadian and English geese a plenty and some strange lookin offspring. Then it struck me the post were vertical !! and not at odd angles like some twisted crown of thorns . I was informed that they were telescope hinged and the latest technology …they rose upwards towards the sky gleaming white in the hazy sunlight and certainly gave the impression that kicking goals between would be childs play .

Boots Athletic RFC were the opponents , the format of 4 separate 20 minute sessions being agreed to allow coaching staff to trial permutations , and give the old men a rest .

The ref arrived on his bike , meaning he had at least qualified for his cycling proficiency badge and hopefully could see the traffic !!!

The weather was close and muggy and as kick off approached the supporters began to gather along the touchline .

Captain Pikey had returned from his brothers week long celebrations to captain the side with the opening fifteen reading something like this

Yorkie at full back , Paul on one wing with Harold Hobbit on the other , Hobbit and pikey at centres , phil the legend Hartley at stand off to partner draps , backrow of big dave , tommmieee leavey , Richard , stickie , bruce the raging potatoe , oli w , Gollum and big rich benching for the first 20 were mark , bryn the gym , and the fat prop .

Boots kicked off , hamians gathered somewhat scrapperly and cleared to touch . Tommieee gathererf the lineout and was upp ended , his opposite number some grumpy old man was lectured . In the fracas the boots hooker twisted his knee and had to be replaced .

Hmaians used the free kick to gain ground and tommieee won good ball to set the backs in full flow , good play and reclycling released yorkie who stumbled and knocked on . Boots with a steady scrum ran the ball out releasing their brute of a muscle bound centre to bash up the middle . This tactic was repeated several times to nil effect with hamians centres holding their ground .


Richard from the back row wipped out their scrum half and also ran well off rucks and mauls . Hamians running ball in hand attacked left , good play form Harold hobbit meant the ball kept alive was recycled with both pikey and roy passing !!! to put paul over in the corner

5 nil

Straight from the restart hamians upped the tempo running the ball well ,and attempting to keep the ball alive .

Once again Hobbit and PIKEY opened up the defence and yorkie raced clear to be tapp tackled 8 yds short of the line by a second row !!

Messing the scrimmage heel draps and hartly scramble ball only to knock on . Hamians scrimmage shunted backwards , reset and pressured again . Hartley gathers and ghosts over but Rich crosses in what was a classified as a blocking movement . Boots clear


Hamians recover lineout and Yorkie released out wide cuts in and scores under post . Paul converts 12 nil

End of first twenty

Gollum has rest , as does Paul , Bryn and fat prop athletically stride into the fray . Coaching staff set objectives for the session .

Hamians score two and concede a soft one is the storey which unfolded like this …

Hamians start to dominate tight , boots conceding penalties to prevent good ball .
From penalties hamians able to try set lineout moves in attacking positions .

Couple of strikes against head result

Highlight of half is Stickies effort in the outside channel from a set lineout move . Six foot seven second rows thundering over and throwing dummies on the way is always a glorious sight .

Harold continued his good start to the club with his second try in as many games following strong forward and back interplay .

The stoppages for injuries to Boots players slowed down the tempo but demonstrated the good pre season WWF training undertaken .

The double error from the kick off in taking the ball into contact and not presenting , attoning for your error by winning the line out soaring so high to dominate the throw but bottling the catch to palm like a twat with the outside arm to rather than see us clear our lines present a penalty 10 metres out .Two quick takes and hamians scramble defence appeared to have driven away the danger but laziness crept in and boots spun out of a tackle drove on and stretched outwards to score .

Half time

Session three new objectives set

Oli w withdraws into boilerhouse , brucie steps up to hooker , mark slots into backrow , Rich has rest

Session one of missed opportunities as moves tried ….

Three tries scored , four strikes against head

Phil H , Harold and yorkie cross the white wash

Stickie asked for pass to Harold to be recorded as off weaker hand ( impressive as again was in outside channel off lineout move )

Oli w reveling in his second row , repeatedly takes ball in hand

Fat prop drops kick and try scoring pass ( how he managed to get outside on the wing is a tribute to pre season fitness !!) from resultant scrums ball won back and tries scored . ANSWER IS pass the ball to him he drops it and from the turn over at the scrum we have attacking platform to score

Phil h scoots in after good forward play

Mark shows finesse in driving of rucks and mauls , good support form dave and stickie with final off loads not quite coming off , dynamisim what demanded by coaching staff.


Session 4

Fat prop , draps and hobbit off

Gollum the scrum half , paul on wing , rich in centre

Big dave and scond row carded for fighting !!

Pikey gives paul a classic pass , missed him with line begging ( on 4 training !!!)

Scrums again solid and line out steady

Hamians defensive line stands firm and disappointingly concede 8 penalties in 20 mins

No wonder only one score by yorkie to complete hat trick

46 -7 not bad a result

Thievin Rogue the guest ale was damm good and club house vacated at 8 ish

Training tues /thurs as first league game on sat home to Melbourne 3pm kick off .


Disclaimer

I believe all facts are true but did spend a considerable period of the second half talking to a blond on the touchline and a separate minute watching a pair of copulating geese so their maybe one or two errors which I apologise in advance for .