A decent game of rugby

Sideline report - Amaury
Nice game, unlucky near the end when the lad's weren't focused, they were running through our line when we weren't making the tackles, when we were they were low and powerful, good rucks when we were supporting the player with the ball. Passing was too slow, we could have scored more trys if we were passing it to the wings fast enough, great running, need to run on to the ball when they were kicking it. Overall great game, lost by a little bit and because of the lads not focused enough near the end.

Sideline report from Roger to follow.

Coaches Report (JMc)
Cold, muddy underfoot and wet handling.
Played 13-a-side as short on numbers, uncontested scrums. Amaury had a niggle. Roger (new guy) showed up to support. Both were great with water and tee work for the lads. Support much appreciated.

Good solid game of rugby. There was plenty of space on the pitch but we seemed intent to bring it into contact. Sportsmanship was great from both teams, but special mention has to be made of Hillingdon in this respect, they played good solid rugby but were to a man always concerned about their opponents welfare. Great example for the game!!

For Hampstead some special mentions for each player 1 - 13 is merited (I do actually pay attention at times !!)

1. Aurelien moved from wing to prop and made some great direct runs breaking tackles and gaining yards in a totally alien position
2. Martin played with half a lung and did very well to hang in there. Played well, led by example and worked really hard given how he was struggling to breath.
3. Nahuel got stuck in and made some great tackles, excellent pod work and some good one up runs off the 9 - came away with a broken collar-bone for his troubles.
4. John great work in second row, some good strong runs and rucking. Really developing into a good player.
5. Stan (capt) is constantly leading by example, getting stuck in and leading from the front. He said he is going to practice being more vocal
6. Aron again a great performance at 8, dependable and confidence inspiring. Struggled near the end with a niggle, so hopefully that will get better. One of the talismans of the team.
7. Alex K back in as 9, and finding his feet in that position again. Worked hard to distribute well.
8. Oisin at 10 played well in attack and defence making a lot of good decisions to distribute and tackle
9. Callum had a stormer of a first game, great runs and evasion and very unlucky not to score a great try. Made some great defensive plays as well
10. Giuliano popped his knee cap again, went off for a while, popped it back in and joined the game again - good man
11. Alex P was excellent again in attack with darting and twisting runs evading all in his path and getting stuck in as usual in defence, a key talent
12. Tobi was a star again in attack and defence. The man is unstoppable when he is focussed. There is much more to come from him.
13. Elliot took on the role of fullback and faced up to the challenge well.

Areas to work on
We will be working on getting everyone up to the same level in tackle and contact for the next few weeks. This is an area where although we have great ambition, our skills, confidence and support could do with improving. Everyone in the team needs this work - there is no-one who is the perfect tackler
Alongside that we will look to improve our decision making, having some stalwart plays to get us back in focus as a team

Feedback from lads was that this was a game we could have won. More than one of our lads commented on how nice Hillingdon were even though they were tough oppo.

Players of the match
A couple of left field calls on this. As you can see from the above there was a lot of good stuff from each player, but selecting the two below for performances beyond expectations:
Forwards - Aurelien, first time forward and relished the challenge making great yards and taking responsibility in defence
Backs - Callum, in his debut played without fear or doubt. Was unlucky to drop his try opportunity. Tackled solidly on the wing.