Chiswick Defences Rule In Local Derby

Rugby result: Chiswick 9 Hammersmith and Fulham 5

Chiswick got out of jail at the start of the decade with an impressive defensive display. Considering they rarely got close to the Hammersmith line, and never looked like scoring a try, the result was really more than they deserved.

Hammersmith attacked from the kickoff, keeping the ball in hand but generally close to the forwards. Chiswick, with lineout problems, favoured a kicking game, which played into the visitors’ hands. Stuart Parmeter linked well with Nico Fryer in a rare home counter-attack, but it was nearly all Hammersmith. It was Parmeter again who set up an attack from a real mess of a lineout, and Tom Duffy, at fullback who got clobbered by a number of offside opponents. Duffy then produced an excellent kick, from around 35 metres, to open the scoring, after fifteen minutes.

Hammersmith stormed back and John Gibson, Ben Cheston, and Tom Adams were all prominent for their tackling as the visitors probed the home defence. Ali Lines, the Hammersmith ( and ex-Chiswick ) scrum half made a typical darting run around the blindside, setting up a siege in the home 22. Suddenly, from a Hammersmith scrum, a neat chip kick exposed a Chiswick defence with only Keith Luckman in the left corner, faced with three attackers. He did well to push the scorer as wide out as possible, and the kick was missed.

A concerted attack by Chiswick, with Al Pickering and Marcus Rowley involved, was then stopped illegally, and Duffy had a difficult chance from around forty five metres, five metres in from the right touch line. On his day he can kick anything, and this was one of his days, luckily for Chiswick, who regained the lead after thirty seven minutes. Ten hectic minutes, and numerous tackles later, the half-time whistle went.

With Stef Davies off injured, Chiswick had some scrum problems, but Sam Hood and Fryer did a good job behind a retreating seven. The Hammersmith left wing nearly burst through the home defence, but generally the home defence held. A tremendous maul by Chiswick took them twenty five metres upfield, and speedster Cheston finally received a pass as Chiswick opened up. Unfortunately, Duffy, sprinting through from full back, over-ran Adie Lewis’s inside pass, slowed by the defender, and the first and only ( of the match ) typical Chiswick break came to naught.
A penalty for not binding gave Duffy another chance, but his kick went straight over the top of the right post, and was not rewarded. Tom Adams had to give best to a bad back, and the necessitated reshuffle brought Rowley into the back row. Peter Townsend had a couple of runs, but the quick Hammersmith defence coped easily with the first. In the second he tried an infield kick, which caused some problems for the defence. Twenty five minutes into the half Duffy had another, easier, kick, which he slotted comfortably, but the lead looked too slender, as the smooth Hammersmith machine stepped up the pace.

Chiswick fought like tigers as Hammersmith camped for over a minute on their goal-line, and eventually the whistle came to their aid. The relieving kick was poor, and the visitors came straight back, with another minutes’ pressure, ending when one of their team appeared to try to touch down over the wrong line. Fryer produced some vital tackles as Hammersmith stayed in the home 22, as did Rowan Tonkin and Al Pickering. The siege continued, as Chiswick tried and failed to run the ball out of defence. Eventually an uncontested scrum went to Hammersmith, and the final minutes’ attack was just repulsed by a very tired home team. An amazing result.

Chiswick team :- Donaldson, Parmeter, Davies ( Fletcher ), Pickering M, Tonkin, Adams ( Townsend ), Pickering A, Hood, Fryer, Luckman ( Hammond ), Lewis, Gibson, Cheston, Rowley, Duffy

January 5, 2010