Saturday saw Hamstead seek to maintain their 100% home start to the season against Harpenden. A sideline full of semi-intoxicated ladies drinking prosecco last week before was substituted by one or two men drinking cans of Carlsberg claiming they knew Dan Wigley...

In such an atmosphere the game got underway and, much like the diminished sideline, Hampstead looked a shadow of the team that had put on such an excellent display on the same pitch only a week earlier. The first 10 minutes saw Harpenden pile on the pressure and a penalty in the middle of the park, combined with an excellent kick to touch from Harpenden’s No. 10, led to Hampstead defending a lineout on their five-metre line early on. A maul was successfully set up by the vistiors and was well defended by Hampstead until the back three broke off and managed to charge for the line, scoring the first try of the game which was then converted. 0-7 Harpenden.

A few rallying words from captain Andy McEwan seemed to wake up the Hampstead troops and from the kickoff the hosts started to look more like themselves, running excellent lines and carrying across the gain line. Harpenden’s men must have had some Welsh and Irish ancestry as they started dropping like flies in the following 10 minutes, which saw three substitutions and a blood sub for the visitors. During this time Harpenden looked unable to live with Hampstead, particularly when the hosts played at pace, and Harpenden's failure to roll away on their 22m allowed ace shot Dimoline to slot home a penalty to start Hampstead’s account.

After the restart Hampstead continued to apply pressure with a number of excellent carrys from the pack, allowing the backs quick ball with which to attack Harpenden. A quick tap penalty by Hampstead's ever lively No. 9 Pettit saw the ball fed to A J Ajayi. It looked as if the rampaging winger must be put into touch as he was hit by two hard tackles one inch from the touch line. Instead, Ajayi went through the tackles and off-loaded to the supporting Moncrieff, who in turn passed to Dimoline, who then jinked and sped away to score an excellent try near the posts. A sound conversion eased Hampstead into the lead for the first time in the match.

The final score of the half went to Harpenden, courtesy of a penalty, and the two sides went in 10-10 at the break.

The second half brought more pressure from Hampstead, who really started to impose themselves on the game and an excellent passage of play saw AJ break through the middle and off-load to Fran, who ran a line splitting their defence. Shortly before being tackled he passed to Matt Ward just before Harpenden’s five-metre line, and the hooker seemed certain to score until a suspiciously high tackle, around the neck and jaw, brought him down. A penalty try was not forthcoming but despite this, Hampstead recycled the ball and scored in the corner. Dimoline sadly missed the conversion leaving the hosts up 15-10.

The game continued with the two sides looking evenly matched until Harpenden’s flanker, in a moment of madness, tried to slow Hampstead’s ball by lying over it and as their penalty count had become too high he was sent to the bin. Hampstead kicked for touch and won the ball back off the lineout before another high challenge won them a penalty right in front of the sticks on Harpenden’s 22m. A second yellow card ensued, reducing the visitors to 13 men. Dimoline kicked the penalty to put the hosts up 18-10 with 20 minutes to go.

The loss of two men seemed to have a huge effect on Harpenden, who played an inspired 10 minutes of rugby, keeping the ball tight with a pick-and-go strategy that made it incredibly difficult for Hampstead to get hold of the ball. This took them all the way to the Hampstead line where they touched down but failed to score the conversion.

With the teams restored to 15-a-side it was Hampstead’s turn to apply the pressure on the visitors five-metre line but some excellent defensive counter-rucking allowed the visitors to reclaim possession and clear their lines. With five minutes to go Harpenden went on the attack once more and won a penalty just outside Hampstead’s 22m, which they kicked to bring the scores level.

The visitors continued to press Hampstead and won another penalty on the half way line after the restart, which they kicked for the corner to land the decisive blow. The throw was, however, not straight and the Hampstead pack won a penalty off the resulting scrum with no time left on the clock. A clear head from Andy allowed for the ball to be kicked off to end the game with a fair, but nonetheless disappointing draw. Man-of-the-match went to Dimoline, but special mention also to Wigley for turning down the chance to watch Wales play Australia at Twickenham in order to play for Hampstead (true dedication)!

Peter Breen

TEAM SHEET
1 Fran Fonagy
2 Matt Ward
3 James Glaysher
4 Daniel Wigley
5 Robert Good
6 David Macdonald
7 Max Moncrieff
8 Andy McEwen
9 Will Pettit
10 Christos Cardovillis
11 A J Ajayi
12 Tom Jordan
13 Dan Dimoline
14 James Ferguson
15 Joe Brawn

Subs:
Freddie Jackson
Stuart Lees
Craig Harper