Hanwell Return To Winning Ways

Victory away against SODAM RFC

Hanwell returned to winning ways by overcoming SODAM RFC away on Saturday 17th January.

The hosts had replaced Hanwell in 2nd place in the league following last week's results, which added a little extra spice to the game.

The game begun under a beautiful winter sun, hanging low in the sky over the visitor's posts. The hosts kicked off and Hanwell immediately ran the ball back at them.

With an obviously history between the club, the game was a scruffy but physical battle, with both sides hitting the rucks at a ferocious pace. This commitment to the rucks resulted in the game suffering from numerous handling errors from the two teams. 

For the opening ten minutes, the game was littered with scrums which were very even, with both sides securing their own put in.

Sadly, the SODAM loosehead suffered a back injury early on and had to leave the field. Any opportunity for Hanwell to pounce on a potential weakness never came to light though, as the replacement slotted in as his colleague and if anything SODAM actually had a slight advantage.
 
The visitors did have the faster backline and this was obvious when top try scorer Kenny Hassan sprinted through the SODAM defence to score the opening try to give Hanwell a 0-5 lead.

Not long after the restart, a good SODAM move resulted in Hanwell infringing at the breakdown. The hosts went for the posts and successfully closed the gap to 3-5.
 
Shortly afterwards, fullback Alex Todman collected a kick deep in the Hanwell 22 and set off on a run along the right wing. With space running out, he opted to kick over the rushing defenders for Kenny Hassan to chase and collect. Cutting back inside, he popped a pass to centre Harrison Synnott to score his first try for the club. Jack Ryan collected the extras to extend Hanwell's lead to 3-12.

With the game a stop/start affair, it was always going to take something a bit special to create the next score. That eventually came when Hanwell scrum half Matt Pickersgill - usually a singer in The Tailormade, used all his showbiz style to dance through 5 attempted tackles to score a spectacular try.
Half time came almost too soon for the visitors with the scores SODAM 3 - Hanwell 17.
 
The second half began with SODAM pushing hard. Taking the ball into contact, the hosts edged their way up to the Hanwell tryline to score a very good, converted try.
The game once again became scrappy with handling errors and scrums pausing things on and off.
 
With Matt's try the benchmark for the day and with his centre partner already on the scoreboard, Dan Horner collected a pass just inside the SODAM half and then set off on a darting run towards the try line. A mix of pace and strength propelled Dan through the opposition defence to score a brilliant solo try, which also secured the Man of the Match award.
The icing on the cake came with Jack Ryan once again converting to give Hanwell a 10-24 victory.

20th January 2015