TABARD 23 Hammersmith and Fulham 13 – London League 2 North West

TABARD 23 Hammersmith and Fulham 13 – London League 2 North West

A good opening quarter in which Tabard scored two excellent tries was enough to give Tabard the edge over a strong Hammersmith and Fulham side, with the home team eventually clinching victory by 23 points to 13.

All round Tabard had a good first half with the scrum achieving early mastery and they were well supported by stand off Jack Reilly and good running and tenacious tackling outside with Mike Thomas and Kieran Murphy putting in fine performances in the centre, although the outstanding player in the first half was the Tabard captain and second row, Cam O’Connor, who appeared everywhere on the park with superb thrusts forward as well as good cover tackling.

Hammersmith and Fulham were definitely caught flat footed in the opening spell and Tabard notched up their first score after six minutes. The Tabard pack wheeled a Hammersmith scrum and thus gained the put in at the ensuing scrum. The ball was heeled quickly and Reilly dummied outside before breaking inside the cover defence to make good ground before passing to Matty Roberts, on the wing, for the try which Reilly then converted.

Hammersmith responded with a penalty from their stand off Weekes but Reilly countered with one for Tabard when Hammersmith were penalised for illegal use of the foot. A minute later Tabard scored again. This time the ball came quickly off the top of the line out, a miss pass in the centre saw Thomas make a tremendous run down the centre, shrugging off tackles as he went, before passing to Murphy for the score which Reilly then converted. After this Hammersmith started to put their game together but another Reilly penalty just before half time put Tabard 20 points to three ahead at the break.

In the second half it was Hammersmith’s turn to show they were a good handling side and they attacked incessantly but the Tabard defence was sound and all Hammersmith could get was a further penalty from Weekes. Then, midway through the half, Tabard had a not straight throw into their own line out, close to their try line. Hammersmith opted for the scrum and their number 8 picked up at the base and virtually unopposed went over for a try which Weekes converted.

There then ensued some good rugby from both sides but Tabard had the edge and, with five minutes to go Reilly slotted another penalty over to complete Tabard’s scoring and ensure victory in the end by 23 points to 13.

Team: Hopcroft, Roberts, Murphy K, Thomas, Woodhead, Reilly, Murphy A, Lake B, Colette, Lake W (Gough 44m), O’Connor, Miller, O’Neill (Calnan 75m), Kidd and Stoba.