Welwyn vs Hammersmith and Fulham Players Match Report

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Welwyn 30 Hammersmith and Fulham 5

Saturday 18th November, Welwyn had been drawn against Hammersmith and Fulham in the next round of the senior cup. With a 12:30 meet at Hobbs Way we waited in anticipation for any late comers or lapses in the dress code to swell the funds of the sock.

With most of the team present we entered the changing room and began our preparations for the game. Muggy did eventually turn up claiming that he was told the meet was at 1 o’ clock, and that he had been delayed by congestion on Handside Lane as it nearly took him three minutes to get from home to the club!

Pete the coach was donning the 9 jersey this week as Cullen was injured and Yogi had been delayed at his finger painting lesson at school. Beardy was back in the boiler room and debutant James Cofflin was selected on the bench.

The team waited in anticipation as the new CD was unveiled and put into the wireless. Biffa had been “in the mix” during the week and had compiled a variety of music to suit the mood. Biffa stated that the hardest part of making the CD was trying to stop Garthy having an influence on what went onto the compilation and eventually convinced him that none of the lads wanted to listen to NSYNC or Boyzone.

The warm up was a bit flat to say the least and we knew that we needed to start from the whistle if we were to take the upper hand in the game. There had been a lot of hype and controversy surrounding the female referee that was scheduled to take charge of the game, he arrived much to the disappointment of Kitten who said he was looking forward to chatting her up during the game even with his gum shield in!

PJ was due to start the game on the wing but due to a little tiny painful blister on his heel he went onto the bench to allow the wee to dry out in the front of his shorts. This meant that James Cofflin would start on the wing to make his debut.

Welwyn started at the top end of the pitch and kicked off to the visitors who received the ball and began to attack. Welwyn were penalized for coming in at the side of the ruck and this allowed H&F to gain ground and put Welwyn back into their own half. We did manage to gain possession and Garthy cleared his lines to give H&F a lineout which Kitten plucked out of their second rows grasp. Welwyn were then rewarded a penalty which Garthy slotted with ease. (The new ball apparently).

Welwyn did not start particularly well in the first half and did allow the visitors chances to attack and gave away ground with sloppy penalties being awarded by the referee. However after soaking up the attacks by the visitor’s, the pack started to dominate and put pressure on H&F’s scrum and the front row of Biff, Banks and Muggy were starting to put their mark on the game, with a little help from the boiler room and the blokes that lean on the side. Welwyn were again awarded a penalty which Garthy converted after some strong running by Henry Child had started to break down the H&F defence. 6-0 to Welwyn.

Welwyn produced quick ruck ball in the oppositions 22 and switched the play down the blind side, Pete spun the ball out to Harris who then off loaded to Hopley who raced for the line, Hopley was stopped just short of the line but skillfully managed to keep the ball alive and popped it back inside to Harris who flopped over the line for Welwyn’s first try. Garthy slotted the conversion to take the score to 13-0.

Manakin had been sin-binned earlier on in the game and returned only to be given another yellow card which meant his early departure from the game. On the upside, it is probably the first warm shower that Manakin has had since returning to the club.

Then came the highlight of the game for some of the more experienced members of the pack, Biffa received a pass and crashed it up only to be stripped of the ball by the opposition scrum half (the smallest player on the pitch). There are many phrases used to describe this unfortunate incident and when it happens you just know that the rest of the pack are just waiting to lift your spirits up with some encouraging words. (“Do you want some ice-cream or custard with that?” “Hello Mr Kipling”, or “you’ve just been Black and Deckered (stripped)” to name a few). Half-time score: 13-0.

The second half got underway and Welwyn started well putting the visitors back under pressure. Mr Kipling bulldozered over the line and the try was given after the ref had checked that he still had the ball. Garthy converted to take the score to 20-0.

H&F were awarded a series of penalties which resulted in them producing some quick ball and they made use of the extra man to score an unconverted try in the corner. Pete went off as a blood substitution after a good first half performance and was replaced by Yogi once he had got the paint off his fingers. Julian Emery then came on for Muggy and Welwyn continued to take the upper hand and play the rugby that we have been trying to achieve over the last couple of months. Rob James also came on for Beardy which meant Morton had to revert back to his favourite position in the boiler room.

A good scrummage and back row move allowed James Cofflin to race over and score an excellent try on his debut for the first team. Golden boots did not manage to slot the conversion. Welwyn were dominating the scrum and the line outs taking most of the opposition’s ball thanks to Kitten and Hopley. This led to Mr Kipling’s exceedingly good second try in which he again crashed over the line from about 3 metres. Garthy missed the conversion but went on to be awarded man of the match after a magnificent performance.

The final score was 30-5 and Welwyn are now through to the next round of the cup, which takes place in December.

Mustard.

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