Thamesians RFC

The Spartans finished the year (not season Kev) with an 11 try win over Hampstead. The Spartans raced into an early 33-0 lead as they took advantage of some poor Hampstead defence. However the team decided that if the opposition wouldn’t tackle then neither would they, and 33-0 soon became 33-22. Rory completed an unlikely, but well deserved, hat-trick on the stroke of half time which gave the Spartans a bit more breathing space as they entered half time with a 40-22 lead.

Strong words were issued at half time regarding the defence, and the Spartans entered the second half with a determination to perform better than they had in last 20 or so minutes of the first half. While Hampstead managed to get a couple of early second half tries, the Spartans finally rediscovered how to tackle and closed out the game by scoring five unanswered tries.

The defence (or lack of) was the major talking point but the Spartans showed plenty of skill in the backline as well as power up front, and familiarity is starting to spread between the players. While there is still plenty to work on, the team has come on a long way and will be confident ahead of the big league matches in the New Year.

Tries: Rory (3), Paddy (2), Jonesy, Levi, Arlind, Jason (2), Mossy
Conversions: Ryan (8)
Man-of-the-Match: Rory

Well the winning run had to end sometime, but there was no disgrace with the manner of defeat against a strong and determined London Irish side. A hugely competitive game ebbed and flowed for the full 80 minutes, but in the end, the old truism about whoever scored first would have the ascendency proved correct.

The game remained scoreless for the best part of 65 minutes, with Spartans showing some spirited defence in the first quarter of the game to keep Irish out, including two try saving tackles on the line. If the first 20 minutes were about Irish’s attacking talent, the next 20 saw Spartans cut loose themselves with James Turner, Andy Jones and Ben Southerst all showing strong running skills to cut through the Irish defence. Unfortunately, a few handling errors and some difficulties with the Spartans lineout stalled momentum and meant that elusive first try remained out of reach at the break.

Both teams made changes at half time and it seemed that Irish came out of the blocks quicker, with the bit between their teeth. They soon started to turn the screw at scrum time and the Spartans pack came under immense pressure for the next 40 minutes. Despite some spirited defence, it was only a matter of time before the first score came and it did when Irish worked the ball wide and exploited a three-man overlap to put the first points on the board. Unfortunately, a few injury-led changes to the Spartans backline meant a reshuffle of personnel, which disrupted the momentum of the team and as a result a further two Irish tries followed to give the score line some gloss. At the final whistle, all agreed that the match was played in the right competitive spirit (despite some strong banter from the touchline… Dendy!) and that both teams left everything out on the field.

It was exactly the sort of fixture for Spartans to test how far we’ve come since September and while there are still some tweaks to be made, we’ve proved we can play and compete with the stronger teams in this region. Both teams agreed to a rematch next year, so we look forward to hosting London Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.

It was a crisp wintery day as a combination Hamptonians and Thamesians team took to the rugby field against Old Isleworthians. An expectant crowd of boozed up old men were looking forward to the match and they were treated to some dazzling rugby as the Hamptons/Thamesians (Spartans) team tossed the ball around with insouciant glee. It was real old school rugby, from the ridiculously oversized archaic jerseys; through to the decision by both teams to often look for the tap and go and not forgetting the obligatory punch up in the second half that saw a player binned from each side. Thankfully, Mickey Wu decided not to use his kung fu skills on the Isleworthians player. He is literally a killing machine, having worked as an assassin for hire for the UK Government back in the 1970s. (Click read more below for full story)

Spartans away fixture was against CSSC Barbarians. After a quick bus trip to their Chiswick ground picking up a few players on the way it was always felt this was going to be a tricky away fixture. The Barbarians fielded a strong side with a big competitive pack, five minutes in we new we were against it after conceding the first try. Re- grouping quickly we all understood it was all about quick ball and setting the backs free. This worked, the ball was won by the forwards, Sam passed it back and the ball went through the hands with Ryan scoring the first of our four tries. The game became more physical with the Barbarians wanting more of a forward confrontation, Rory a new member the club was having none of it meeting force with force. Soon a second try was scored by Ahmed dragging two men over with him.

Starting in the second half we scored another 2 tries in the backs from Ross and Jake. With the opposition being demoralised we thought that the game would open up into a more free running game of rugby. This was not the case, credit to the Barbarians they came back at us with everything they had using their big heavy pack in combination with their speedy backs. With excellent tackling in our back line we managed to concede only 2 tries finally winning narrowly 26-24

Tries: Ryan, Ahmet, Ross, Jake
Convs: Cookie x3