21st October 2006
EGHAM HOLLOWEGIANS 24:5 LONDON FIRE BRIGADE

Egham welcomed London Fire Brigade for their first league meeting in a couple of seasons. There was a good feeling in the squad after the well deserved victory over Haslemere last weekend.

The game could not have got off to a better start. Playing into the stiff breeze, Egham were straight into the attack. A neat cross field chip by Dan Silver was chased down by Jon Kaltner, forcing LFB to kick the ball dead. From the 5 meter scrum, Gavin Callander picked up at the base and fed Toby Brown who scored in the corner: 5 - 0 after 3 minutes.

Egham continued to pressurise LFB, but a couple of knock ons eased the onslaught, and LFB were able to clear their lines. On 20 minutes, from the line out on Egham's 10 meter line, Callander again fed Toby, who ran 50 m to score under the posts. Dan Silver converted: 12 - 0.

There were several more good phases of play put together by Egham, but the LFB defence held, forcing turnovers and knock ons. On the half hour mark, Egham took the ball up the middle through the forwards to good effect. After making 40 yards, the ball was spun wide, but again turned over. LFB cleared again to their 10 meter line.

From the lineout, Toby broke the line and sprinted 40 meters for his hat trick. Dan converted, bringing the score to 19 - 0 with three minutes of the half to play. From the restart, Egham were awarded a scrum as the ball didn't go 10 meters. Gavin and Josh again linked well, with the latter feeding Jon Kaltner who was tackled short of the line.

Half Time Egham 19 - 0 LFB.

The second half was typical of Egham Hollowegians' season so far. The team faltered a bit, seemingly unsure of how to match the performance of the first half. There were some good runs by Nick Bell on the wing, and Gavin, Mark Hyndman, Abtin Pourgeve (the Persian Express?) and Rob Smith. The scoring pass was just not quite there.

On 50 minutes, a very solid 5 yard scrum after LFB touched down in goal produced the first score of the season for Captain Gavin Callender. Dan's conversion attempt from wide out was just short. 24 - 0.

LFB then pulled themselves together. Their strong forwards kept the ball in close and 10 minutes of pressure saw them score from a move we haven't seen for many years! From 8 yards out, they set up an old style "flying wedge" and drove over for a score. 24 - 5.

Egham had a couple more forays into the LFB half, but some sloppy passing let them down. LFB came close to scoring in the last 5 minutes, but good defence kept them out.

This was again the cliched "game of two halves", although unlike last week, Egham didn't look like conceding the win. Each week sees marked improvements, and the defence and discipline are a tribute to the commitment of the lads on the field. There is now a settled pack, and they are beginning to develop an understanding and unity which is very encouraging.

Hopefully the season is beginning to bear the fruits of the labours of the past few months.

It is worth mentioning the comic element of the day. The match was superbly refereed by John Robertson, who let the game flow. His explanation of a high tackle as "its not his fault he is vertically challenged" shows that political corectness has not marred the rugby field yet. Equally, commenting that if the forwards wish to "hang around like women, they deserve to be penalised" was a reflection of his interpretation of the modern game.

Dave Hayman deserves special mention for his Physiotherapy skills whilst attending Neeps. A quick rub of the magic sponge followed by "don't be such a poof" had Neeps back into the action in no time!