HMMT3 Cup 1st Round
Weston (14) v Amersham & Chiltern 3XV (22)
A first meeting between the clubs and a first round of a cup to decide. The overflow car park at Weston was more muddy than the pitch and a number of our cars had to be pushed out throughout the day.
Team Manager David 'Crimpo' Crimp emerged last from the changing room in full kit ; boots, shorts and socks and the referee commented 'is he playing?' , I'm sure he would have.
Weston won the toss and chose to go uphill into the wind, a knowing choice. Following a feisty first 10 minutes , Chiltern started to get into the game and scored twice following patient build up play. Dan Kinsey kicked a penalty just before half time to go in to the break 0-17 to the good.
Despite predicting the onslaught down the hill, and with the ref losing patience , Chiltern conceded 2 physical tries in quick succession. With Matt Neill picking up a Yellow card for a 3rd warning to the team for offside inside our own 22, things looked bad for Chiltern and the prospects of an April Cup run looked in doubt. Chiltern dug deep and responded well to the Weston forwards pressure, defending robustly! With 10 minutes to go both sides began to tire and with the score locked at 14-17, it was Chiltern who managed to wrestle back the advantage with a few attacking phases, the best of which was finished powerfully in the corner by Joe Healy to wild celebrations.
It was a hard earned win against a good side who were a challenge in every department.
3XV are through to the Quarter Final of the HMMT3 Cup which will be played in April.
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Player Highlights:
1. Jamie Reeve - Solid performance at loosehead and lifting at 1. No Black Eye this week
2. Edd Hedley - Accurate lineout and good scrums, disappointed he wasn't in the 2s!
3. Doug Smith (c) - Didn't pass on the information about the muddy carpark to anyone
4. Charlie Bourne - First outing with the 3XV , lots of carries and tackles
5. Peter Gibson - Threatened to rip the opposition number 8's balls off
6. Warwick South - Great back row performance, tackled everything
7. Graeme Coles - Led the battle in the loose, loved the mud
8. Luke Donnebaum - Back from injury, scored a pushover try. Most chat to the ref ever
9. Craig Whyte - Man of the match performance, changed the tempo of the game, scored and tackled brilliantly
10. Dan Kinsey (vc) - After the game had Number 1s on under a polar neck, what's the point ?
11. Joe Healy - Broke tackles and ran hard , finished a great team try
12. Matt Neill - Always turns up when its a cup match, hasn't cut his hair since we won the final last season.
13. Stef Treloar - Busy in attack and defence, great link ups and running lines
14. Mike Merron - Had a few charges through their centres, solid defence
15. Paul Sitzberger - The long awaited return , a few booming clearances and organised the back 3
16. Matt Unwin - Under constant attack in the second half, ran out of trouble and linked well
17. Andy Milner - Playing with a jaw injury (citation needed) but had a solid performance in the set piece
18. Gareth Bourne - Teamed up with Charlie in the second row in the second half - Double trouble !
Team Manager : David Crimp - Important team talk at half time was completely ignored as Weston score twice in 10 minutes.
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Special thanks to Toby Gibson for helping out behind the scenes with water and medical bag. And an honourable mention to Rich Gazzard as our only supporter.
Thanks to Weston , friendly bunch of Rugby Lads and great hosts. I can recommend the Cricketers Pub in Weston Village near Hitchin, which is their Clubhouse.
Weston return to Chiltern in the league in February.