9th September 2006
EGHAM HOLLOWEGIANS 24:25 HASLEMERE

EGHAM HOLLOWEGIANS LEAVE IT TOO LATE

EHRFC welcomed Hazlemere to Kings Lane for their second fixture of the season. This match promised to be an interesting clash as the teams meet twice later on this season in Surrey League 4.

EHRFC were bouyed by a good win last week against Lightwater (a league above), and there was a good turnout for the game. The regulars welcomed a host of students returning to their studies, and Dave Lindsay has been recruiting within has platoon, with 3 representatives from Fiji.

From the kick off it was obvious that this match, played in glorious conditions would be a close and physical encounter. Hazlemere were on the attack from kick off, their powerfull pack causing no end of problems. They were rewarded with an early penalty for handling on the ground, but the kick drifted past the uprights. The restart went straight into touch and again EHRFC were under pressure.

Eventually EHRFC managed to get out of their own half, and a dazzling run from DK saw the first score in the left corner. Trooper Lindsay missed the conversion. EHRFC continued to apply pressure, and despite the power of the Hazlemere pack, and their rock solid defence, good ground was made. The back line started to take some good lines of running, and Kash broke through at pace. Trooper received a great off-load and chipped ahead, but the cover was deemed to have touched down. It was only a short while later that Trooper repeated this tactic, to be rewarded this time with the try. He missed the conversion.

Hazlemere hit back with a try in the right hand corner after some powerful mauling. The EHRFC defence was poor, with several tacklers fended off before the score was taken. The conversion attempt was missed.

Half Time: EHRFC 10 - 5 HRFC

After the break, Hazlemere became dominant in the forwards, destroying the EHRFC scrum, and turning over ruck ball at will. From a penalty, Hazlemere opted for the scrum, which collapsed, with Sturevi leaving the field with a sore neck. From a following lineout, Hazlemere used their rolling maul to score on the right hand side. The conversion was missed. Shortly after, Hazlemere took a quick tap penalty and scored a third try in the left corner. Again, the conversion was missed.

EHRFC had lost their shape by this stage, and trailed 15 - 10. Hazlemere struck again with a well worked try. The ball came down the line, and the try was scored in the right hand corner. Again the conversion was missed. Some stern words from Captain Gavin Callander obviously hit the mark, as some sustained pressure saw Trooper Lindsay sell an outrageous dummy before ghosting in under the posts. He converted his own try to bring the scores within 3 points at 20 - 17.

There followed some moments of madness. With five minutes to go, and a penalty deep in their own 22, EHRFC opted to kick into open field. The ball was gathered in by Hazlemere, spun wide, and they scored in the left hand corner. The conversion was missed.

This galvanised EHRFC, and they dug deep to score the last try of the match, which was converted by Lindsay to make the final score 25 - 24 to Hazlemere.

There were some promising spells from EHRFC during this match, but equally there were some very poor spells. Too often, the wrong option was taken, or the game plan was abandoned. There were particularly good performances by Neeps (as usual), Kash who had an outstanding game and Trooper who won man of the match. Special mention goes to EK, MLD, Sturevi and Billy for the pressure they were under in the front row.

See you all tuesday for a beasting......