Saturday 25th September 2021
London 3 North West
Finsbury Park RFC 15-18 Hendon RFC
Hendon secure first win in London League.
After the disappointment of only 18 mins play against Finchley, Hendon were still “rusty” in this, their first full match at the higher level and were under attack in their 22 from the kick off. However the visitors defence held up until their first attacking move up-field catching Finsbury Park offside. Captain, Cian Hynes, felt the points would be crucial, hence opted for a long penalty kick from the Finsbury Park 10 metre line which succeeded, 0-3. Back into attack, Finsbury Park pressured the Hendon defence once again with their backline eventually breaking through to score a converted try to go ahead 7-3 midway through the period. Hendon’s pack then demonstrated their intent as from the next scrum, the front row of Luke Pollard, Larry Moore and Mitch Hammond took control sending the Finsbury pack backwards, with backrow Marius Von Moltke picking up on the Hendon 22 to reach the Finsbury 10 metre line until stopped with the home side once again attacking into Hendon territory. Defence tackling notably by centres Tom Mathias and Toby Ikwueke and back row Conor Bowler prevented another break through by the experienced Finsbury backs; however Hendon conceded a number of penalties allowing Finsbury to kick another penalty to stretch the lead to 10-3 on 35 mins. Into the final minutes of the first period and Hendon were still intent not to let the match slip even further from their grasp with the forwards and backs combining to allow Will Theaker to score out wide with Hynes converting to level the scores 10-10 for the halftime whistle.
“Game On” and into the 2nd half with only a few mins on the clock as Hendon pushed the ball wide to be stopped on the far right on the FP 22 with the ball coming back to Theaker again on the left to touchdown for an unconverted try 10-15. Soon after with Rossa Dooley gaining turn-over ball in both lineouts and rucks allowing Hynes to kick from defence and win Hendon’s first 50/20 with the throw in advantage going to Hendon; from the restart Finsbury Park were caught offside and again Hynes took the kick as Hendon stretched ahead 10-18.
Into the last 10 mins and Finsbury mounted the pressure with a long kick to the visitors 22 with Hendon conceding a defensive error for the home outfit to score in the corner an unconverted try. 15-18. In a nail biting last few mins saw Hendon keep the game in FP territory with excellent play from new front row signing Nick Pope and Robby Burrell in the backs making a welcome return throughout the 2nd half to give Hendon their first points in the London League and look forward to Saturday’s home match against Harrow.
Hendon Coach Phil Smith commented “All 18 of the team deserve to be man of the match but in the final count I could not split Dooley, Theaker and Von Moltke who shared the honours”.
