East edges west

Rugby Result - Upminster 22  Chiswick 17

No Powergen Junior Vase for Chiswick then, but it was so close! Having gone ahead for the first time with minutes of normal time left, they were defending well, as they had done most of the match.

Two minutes of injury time played. Good lineout ball gave scrumhalf Ian Walker room to find fly half Keith Luckman with an exemplary pass. Luckman kicked hard, only to strike the upraised hands of the home No.6 in full flight. The ball wafted back over Luckman’s head, and rolled invitingly over the Chiswick line for the Upminster flanker to touch down. Luckman was mortified. Chiswick supporters stared in disbelief. The kick was slotted, and although a couple more minutes were played, the furious Chiswick counter was repulsed, and the East End had it.

Upminster had a powerful pack, and played around it, their fly half kicking long and straight ( except off the ground, luckily for Chiswick ). The visitors played uphill against the breeze in the first half, and were pinned in their own half for the first ten minutes. When they got near the opponents’ half, Matt Vinden ripped a ball from an opponent as they fell, and Ben Hinze penetrated the centre of the home defence, only for the ball to be knocked on as the support was slow up to assist him.
Upminster missed an easy penalty kick, but went ahead when an inside pass by their fly half found their inside centre on a great diagonal line, splitting the Chiswick defence. He was pulled up just short, but support was at hand, and the ball was slipped to No.13, who scored. The conversion was good.

The excellent Chiswick No.8 Nick Pritchard was in the thick of things as usual, and Chiswick were improving when an error of judgment allowed a long kick to bounce into touch yards from the Chiswick line. The lineout was followed by a ferocious maul near the visitors’ line, and when the ball was finally whipped out, the home full back found a small gap in the centre of the defence, and although well held by Pritchard, managed to stretch an arm over the line. The conversion failed. Chiswick bounced back, and Luckman slotted an easy penalty kick after good work by Mike Sampson and “Chaos” Kruger near the home line.

In the second half, despite playing uphill, the home team maintained their territorial advantage with good kicking. Having got near the Chiswick line, however, they tried to throw the ball around, and the vigilant Adrian Lewis, on the right wing, made an interception, and ran the necessary seventy yards downhill, with three home players just out of reach the whole way. No sweat. Luckman then kicked a beautiful conversion from a difficult angle, and the excitement mounted.

The referee, not for the only time, then failed to play advantage, and Chiswick, with Kruger for once clear through the midfield, were left fuming. Walker then did well to take a home ball beyond the tail of the lineout, to set up a period of Chiswick pressure. Regaining possession of the ball after tackles was a problem for Chiswick throughout the game, and it cost them when Upminster took three points from a good penalty kick. They then missed an easier kick, which would have put them clear.

Running back the kick-off, Upminster made another mistake, their fly half’s pass out in open play being intercepted by, guess who. Yep, it was the flying Lewis, and again he out-stripped the defence, to score under the posts. Luckman converted, and the final tragic phase commenced.

Chiswick team :- Donaldson, Nichols, Campbell, Sampson ( Chraplewczyk ), Williams, Vinden, Maguire ( Pickering ), Pritchard, Walker, Luckman, Miller, Kruger, Hinze, Lewis, Hammond

November 8, 2005