Chiswick Kicked To Oblivion

Rugby result : Tabard 40 Chiswick 17

Chiswick started off with high hopes, which were not completely demolished until the final moments of a game where luck, in the form of sudden wind gusts, had a hand in the outcome. Some amazing kicking by the home fly half, seemingly oblivious to the conditions, produced a slightly misleading score line, although Tabard were well worth their win.

Against the wind and rain, Chiswick had a torrid time early on, trying to cope with low kicks and the new laws about kicking to touch, with the result that Tabard had a monopoly of the possession. Leaving the ball on the ground whilst trying to run it out of defence left Tabard with a five metre lineout.

Brilliant work in the lineout saw the ball deflected back on the Chiswick side. Unfortunately, it was difficult to cope with the ball on the slippery turf, and it was lost to a marauding home forward who had merely to touch down. The kick was difficult, but successful. Chiswick were warned by this, but thereafter found it difficult to satisfy the referee, as did Tabard, who were regularly pulled up for offside when in promising positions.

A couple of penalties got Chiswick up near the home line, and a good lineout take by Sam Hood led to an attack with John Gibson hauled down by his arm near the line, the ball coming back to Keith Luckman, who drop-kicked accurately for three points. Chiswick have been good with kickoffs recently, but, possibly missing Al Pickering (flu), they cocked this one up, and Tabard won a penalty, nearly in front, and that was 10-3. Soon it was 13-3, then 16-3, as the referee kept blowing and blowing. Chiswick had chances, with Tom Duffy making some good touch kicks, but failed to win several lineouts in the home 22 as the wind played havoc with Joubert’s throws.Tabard seemed unaffected by the sin-binning of one of their forwards, and Chiswick could not take advantage.

Stuart Parmeter was having his usual lively game, and linked well with John Gibson in a break down the right line. His kick inside the full back needed a really speedy follow up, but with Ben Cheston and Marc Jones unavailable for this match, the half-chance went begging. Tom Adams had to go off, to be replaced by Elliott Pickering, and the forwards had a reshuffle. The Chiswick forwards did well, in the last minute of the half, to win a home lineout ball, and things didn’t appear too bad, with the prospect of a favourable wind.

Unfortunately there was an unappreciated factor, and that was real pace in the home backs. It was a good break by the fly half that really caused the first problem, sucking in the Chiswick backs, and allowing the winger to run around the covering Chiswick flanker. With a relatively easy kick to follow, this was a real blow from which Chiswick took a while to recover. With Pickering and Parmeter looking really lively, however, and with the forwards feeling that they could get on top, heads remained up. Lewis Hammond and Parmeter had a great interchange down the left line, giving a demonstration of how and when to pass the ball, but spinning the ball quickly along the line did not seem to be in the Chiswick armoury, and a home breakaway, led by their fly half, produced another try as the home player sprinted out of the cover tackle and down the line. Another good conversion, and Tabard were out of sight – almost.

Chiswick then had a long spell of pressure in the home 22, and after several players had got close to scoring, it was Dave McConnell who finally surged over, giving Luckman an easy conversion kick. The good work was undone when a 22 dropout was fluffed in the wind, allowing a home player to race the Chiswick cover to the line as the ball was kicked through. The score was not a fair reflection of the game, and Chiswick deserved further reward, which they got when they finally moved the ball along the line in the home 22, and Joubert found Hammond with a good inside pass. The kick was good, but last blood went to the home team, with another good penalty kick.

Chiswick team :- Donaldson ( Warriner ), Joubert, Parmeter, Hood, Tonkin ( Pickering, M ), Adams ( Pickering E ), Robbings, McConnell, Febrache, Luckman, Townsend, Gibson, Duffy, Lewis, Hammond.

November 16, 2009