By Hillary Carr
January 19 2004

“I don’t care what you call me as long as it’s not ‘Love’”, said the referee in her pre-match lecture to the teams. Seemed that some of the players were more concerned with political correctness than what might happen in the game. The opening exchanges were fairly even as much of the ball was turned over or just plain scrappy, but it wasn’t long until Quins pressure paid off. After 12 minutes, Webster charged down a defensive kick for touch and fell on the ball to register the first score, unconverted, to lead 5 – 0. It took another 16 minutes to double the score as Grundleigh at centre stormed through the opposition back line for the second try. 10-0. Hammersmith’s only points were scored from a penalty after 32 minutes (10-3). It seemed as if the score was to stay the same for the remainder of the first half, Quins squandering a great deal of possession and territory, failing to capitalize on opportunities presented. From one move at a scrum 5-metres from the Hammersmith line, the Wanderers found themselves defending desperately in their own 22. That is, until the last move of the first half when Quins opened up play to the full width of the pitch through swift handling to allow van der Westhuizen to squeeze over in the right hand corner for the third try – 15-0 up at the break.

The second half saw Quins try to utilise the wide players more, and some fierce exchanges of play (sometimes descending into exchanges of ‘handbags at dawn’) ensued. Quins always looked to be controlling the game and it was only a matter of time before they would add to their first half tally. Once again, it was by using the full width of the pitch that Quins’ back line breached the Hammersmith defence and Haarhoff, starting at flanker for the first time this season, following in support to cross the line for another (unconverted) try – 20-3. A gutsy performance from the forwards saw them constantly pressuring the opposition into mistakes, Nel and Thompson particularly evident at spoiling possession and recycling loose ball for the Harlequins, Thompson himself crossing the line for Quins’ fifth try (25-0). The final try came from a period of sustained pressure on the Hammersmith line, Haarhoff again completing the scoring move in the last minutes of the game for Quins to run out winners by 30 points to 3.

15. Wigley (Crowther), 14. O’Reilly (Turquet), 13. Dewar (Hurst), 12. Grundleigh, 11. van der Westhuizen, 10. Webster (Wigley), 9. Evans, 1. Lawrence (Blackmore), 2. Nel, 3. Fairweather, 4. Cooper, 5. Roberts, 6. Senior (Gardner), 7. Haarhoff, 8. Thompson

The Amateurs’ next game on Saturday 21st January is against Chess Valley, currently at the top of the league table. It’s a ‘must-win’ game if we are to keep in sight of our goal of securing a promotional spot at the end of the season. Everyone is welcome to come and support the team. Kick-off 2.15pm. at Brunel College sports ground, Wood Lane, Isleworth, Middlesex.