First home match in the mud of Hampstead

Despite the remnants of storm Ciaran doing the best it could to push back the home opener, the rugby fields of the Heath actually ended up holding up pretty well, with only a few wet patches. As soon as we could chase the u9s off the pitch following the minis tournament, we were ready to get started. Regents Park had done well, getting up to a full team; and despite having no subs let us run an oversized squad of 22, giving us a great chance to let everyone have a shot at game time.

The boys started out relatively well, combining a pretty dominant scrum with an ability to move the ball quickly with varied passing and scoring on the wings. Regent’s Park came back hard though with some big runners making solo breaks, and once breaking through some weaker tackles to score, putting the match in the balance. The two teams tightened up, with the ball getting stuck in midfield and a number of infringements by our team around the ruck giving RP repeated chances to release pressure. Late in the half however we had a couple of long runs creating tries, putting the score in a respectable place going into the half.

The second half kicked off with more of the same. Though the boys could definitely not physically dominate the big RP players, the ball movement, set piece and some star tacklers allowed the Hampstead team to assume total control - helped by the ability to roll players and stay fresh. Though the floodgates never opened the boys scored regularly and had some great moments in defence (once picking up a Regent’s Park ball carrier and what appeared to be half the team carrying him into touch). Finally ended up a convincing victory despite not hitting the heights the boys are capable of. Hopefully a great intro for some of the less regular players - and leaves us with a lot to work on in terms of defence, discipline and some structured attack before the match next week.