Chiswick Continue In Their Bad Form

Rugby result - Chiswick 29 - Medics 42

Chiswick continued in their bad form in 2011 as they opened the second half of the season with another defeat, the manner of which will only be more painful on reflection.

The kick off was gratefully received by debutant Seth McCullun who ran back into the Medics defence, setting up an early Chiswick attack which was only stopped by an unfortunate knock on. Chiswick were the better side in the first five minutes and got good momentum going through the front row with Ed Langdon and Jani Joubert twice making strong runs.

Imperial took the lead on thirteen minutes when a penalty was slotted over in front of the posts after Chiswick had been deemed to be going over the top in a ruck in a dangerous position. What happened next was inexcusable from the Home sides point of view, after the restart hadn’t gone ten meters the Medics opted to scrum and broke blind.

The Medics winger put toe to ball and had a foot race with winger Rheymayo Brooks who chased valiantly but was beaten at the last and a kind bounce of the ball saw Medics go in under the posts, the try was surprisingly unconverted and the home side trailed 0-8.

The next fifteen minutes saw both teams test each others defence and only last ditch defence stopped substitute Chris Hallewell from going over on twenty two minutes, eight minutes later Chiswick got back into the game as Ben Kelly was stopped illegally and Keith Luckman slotted the ball through the posts for 3-8 and ten minutes until halftime.

Chiswick then gave away any chance of winning the match in the last ten minutes of the first half as they let in three try’s amounting to nineteen points without much resistance, compounding the misery was this ten minute spell really highlighted the poor performance from the Chiswick forwards and some poor defence around the ruck area due to players switching off or not appearing to be up for the battle. The score at halftime was 3-27 in favour of Imperial Medics.

After some truths from coach Rocky Skinner the Home side started the second half on a much brighter note and two minutes in Hallett went over after good play from Luckman and Hallewell, try unconverted and Chiswick were still facing an uphill battle with the score at 8-27. The task was again made harder on 54 minutes as the Medics dominated another forward contest and scored an unconverted try, within a blink of an eye their seemed some hope as outside centre Ben Cheston took a good inside line of skipper Jon Gibson and went over under the posts for a converted try to make the score 15-32.

Chiswick unfortunately switched off again after scoring and allowed Medics to score just three minutes after the home sides score, to compound the misery the home sides poor personal discipline started to show and scrum half Gabs Lowe was yellow carded for questioning the referee. What happened next was a credit to the home side but would leave the coaches bewildered as with only fourteen players on the field Chiswick started to play their best rugby of the match and finally got the ball wide enough for Ady Lewis to have a run against his opposite man. Lewis made 25 meters before being pulled down, from the resulting ruck Chiswick spun the ball wide and after three or four phases Hallett found some space and some nifty foot work gave him his second try and Chiswick a full seven points, 22-37.

True to form however Chiswick turned off mentally from the restart and allowed the away side to retain possession and secure the ball, Medics started a maul which pushed the home side back twenty meters before being stopped, illegally. Lowe returned to the field but from the penalty Chiswick were again reduced to fourteen as replacement prop Davies was yellow carded for back chart to the referee, amid the confusion Medics took a tap and their scrum half evaded three tacklers before sending the fly half over for an unconverted try, 22-42.

Chiswick had the final say in the last minute when Gibson received the ball wide and ran round his man to go though and beat the opposing full back in a foot race for a good try, the final whistle was blown and Chiswick had lost 29-42

Team: Luckman, Brooks (Hallewell), Cheston, Gibson, Lewis, Hallett, Lowe, Langdon (Davies) Joubert, Donaldson, Tonkin, McCullun, Morris (Fletcher), Kelly, Cooper.

January 13, 2011