Harlequin Amateurs 16 Uxbridge 5
By Hillary Carr January 13 2005
The season of goodwill toward men was very definitely over as the two teams at first and third in the league met for the return game of the season.
The season of goodwill toward men was very definitely over as the two teams at first and third in the league met for the return game of the season.
For Harlequins Amateurs, who occupy the top slot of the league table coming into the New Year, we need to win all the remaining league games to take the only automatic promotion place available in the division. Similarly, for Uxbridge to maintain anything of an opportunity for a play-off place for promotion, this was a must-win game.
One determining factor was the wind which blew in Uxbridge’s favour after they won the toss. So it was that Uxbridge laid siege to the Quins’ line which found the Amateurs in the unusual situation of soaking up a great deal of pressure from the whistle, and took nearly six minutes to clear their 22m area.
It was obvious that both teams were suffering from lack of match practice and post-festive imbibing. But it was the Amateurs who, having repelled the Uxbridge early assault, started to put together some neat passing and support play which resulted in centre Harry Hurst crossing the line wide on the right for an unconverted try after fifteen minutes. Quins looked good in their creativity and wide-game tactics when they chose to employ them. However Uxbridge are the masters at spoiling the fluency of any game, sometimes exchanging blows - this led to the captains being spoken to by the referee together with the use of the yellow card on several occasions.
But all too casually Quins sat back and allowed Uxbridge to do exactly the same to them, giving away a soft try from open play. And so the score remained 5 – 5 till the turn-round.
The half-time team talk tried to focus on playing to Quins’ strengths and utilising the fast strike runners. For a passage of about four minutes, Quins showed why they’re top of the table with crisp inter-passing and support play from a stable support platform. This resulted in the Harlequins Amateurs scoring their second and the last try of the game when Adam Wallace rounded the defence on the left wing just past the hour mark.
And so the slogging match carried on, Quins hanging on doggedly to the lead, conceding far too many penalties for their own good. Ross Webster slotted home two penalties to keep the opponents requiring more than a converted try to catch Quins, the first after 25 minutes and then on the stroke of full time to leave them as winners by a final score of 16 -5.
1. Lawrence 2. Camacho 3. Fairweather 4. Dewar 5. Curry 6. Kurdi 7. Thompson
8. Stevens (Yice-Capt) 9. Wigginton 10. Webster (Capt) 11. Williams 12. Hurst 13. Wallace 14. Fretwell 15. Ah-sun 16. Birbeck. 17. Glanville 18. Roberts
Harlequins scorers: Try: Hurst, Wallace Penalties: Webster (2)
One determining factor was the wind which blew in Uxbridge’s favour after they won the toss. So it was that Uxbridge laid siege to the Quins’ line which found the Amateurs in the unusual situation of soaking up a great deal of pressure from the whistle, and took nearly six minutes to clear their 22m area.
It was obvious that both teams were suffering from lack of match practice and post-festive imbibing. But it was the Amateurs who, having repelled the Uxbridge early assault, started to put together some neat passing and support play which resulted in centre Harry Hurst crossing the line wide on the right for an unconverted try after fifteen minutes. Quins looked good in their creativity and wide-game tactics when they chose to employ them. However Uxbridge are the masters at spoiling the fluency of any game, sometimes exchanging blows - this led to the captains being spoken to by the referee together with the use of the yellow card on several occasions.
But all too casually Quins sat back and allowed Uxbridge to do exactly the same to them, giving away a soft try from open play. And so the score remained 5 – 5 till the turn-round.
The half-time team talk tried to focus on playing to Quins’ strengths and utilising the fast strike runners. For a passage of about four minutes, Quins showed why they’re top of the table with crisp inter-passing and support play from a stable support platform. This resulted in the Harlequins Amateurs scoring their second and the last try of the game when Adam Wallace rounded the defence on the left wing just past the hour mark.
And so the slogging match carried on, Quins hanging on doggedly to the lead, conceding far too many penalties for their own good. Ross Webster slotted home two penalties to keep the opponents requiring more than a converted try to catch Quins, the first after 25 minutes and then on the stroke of full time to leave them as winners by a final score of 16 -5.
1. Lawrence 2. Camacho 3. Fairweather 4. Dewar 5. Curry 6. Kurdi 7. Thompson
8. Stevens (Yice-Capt) 9. Wigginton 10. Webster (Capt) 11. Williams 12. Hurst 13. Wallace 14. Fretwell 15. Ah-sun 16. Birbeck. 17. Glanville 18. Roberts
Harlequins scorers: Try: Hurst, Wallace Penalties: Webster (2)
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