London 2NW Imperial Medicals 22 – 22 Hammersmith & Fulham 16/01/10
Tries: Corin, Effy, Hamilton
Conversions: Martin x2
Penalties: Martin
A poor performance from the Medicals saw them fail to put away a poor Hammersmith and Fulham side in a disjointed performance on Saturday. The Medics started strongly enough even if it was unspectacular. A short period of possession saw them win a penalty in front of the posts which Guy Martin slotted with ease. Shortly after the back row combined for a lovely score. Ben Allin took a deep kick and made his way up the touchline. He broke two tackles before offloading to the ever-eager Angus Hamilton who managed to put Graham Corin away down the touchline for a 60 metre score in the right corner that put the Medcis 8-0 up.
The Medicals then slipped in to their bad habits and began taking the lead for granted and slowly slumped to a 15-8 deficit. Having not played any rugby for 40 minutes it could have been a lot worse. The realisation of a possible loss stirred some reaction from the players. The drives from the lineout began to gain momentum and again sustained pressure told as more and more defenders were committing to the rucks. Effy, having a very strong game, finally crossed through a despairing tackle and the score were levelled by Martin's kick.
H&F eventually kicked long once too often to James Shraples and his scathing run from his own 22 took the ball deep in to opposition territory. Effy was on hand to support and his offload in contact put Angus Hamilton in under the sticks. With seconds left H&F thought they had gone in on the left touchline that would have left a very difficult conversion for the draw. However, the referee said the player had been held up and a scrum was awarded. Despite Ben Allin sacking the scrum half H&F were able to pull off a move in the midfiled and they went in under the posts to take a well deserved draw.
The lesson of the day was quite clearly that those who train together, Win.
Pon