Author Archives: Paul Clarke

Exiles claw back a lead from 0 – 13 deficit only to lose in the final minutes by a point, in an enjoyable physical game v Uxbridge playing props in the fly half shirt and centres stuffed with flankers. Nick Greenhalgh reports from the back of the scrum!

After a dismal and disappointing game last weekend several Exiles were a bit down beat about donning the boots and getting back on the rugby horse, some didn’t even put on their Chaps! However, others were just plain up for a good run out as they were lucky enough not to play the weekend before. We slowly got to critical mass as the clock edged toward kick off. Thanks for that boys! Thing is we were very depleted in the backs category. Heaps of flankers and several fists full of front five. What to do! No one with fly half experience. Hmm we have this new prop who played for Oxford, hmmm he must be a confident fella I thought.. yeah he’ll do. Tom C didn’t shy away from the assignment and outside him I put a couple of flankers Joe S and Jonathan McK. Tom C wasn’t used to the pace of this role but played admirably putting in some nice straight runs, very much fitting the new crash fly-half mold the Exiles have been working on ever since Spikey started knocking on the door of 15 stones and scored our first crash no. 10 try against Newbury a few weeks back. As props were tiring and Jareth (normally backrow/prop/fullback!) finally made an appearance, Jareth put on the number 10 shirt and Tom C found himself in the more familiar front row territory.

The first half saw the oppo have several goes at goal from various penalties, sadly one of them succeeded, yet thankfully many failed. Also saw them miss a few tries with fortunate knock-ons and other errors. However, they did get a couple of tries past, and the Exiles found themselves 13-0 down at half time. The scrums never really stabolised for us, leading to Stef having his work cut out as I failed to control the ball for any length of time if at all, as it frequently squirted out at all angles from an often backward shifting platform. A few changes were made and somehow our fitness seemed amazingly to be better than theirs, or perhaps it was a better use of the unlimited rolling subs arrangement. We found we were able to make good progress keeping the ball in hand. Their defenses were still stubborn yet we finally got over the line from a no.8 pick up I managed to start which became a mutated scrum ruck as I never really managed to get out of the back of the scrum, T did a good job of talking me into releasing my grasp of the ball to let him manipulate it to the back of the ruck where a certain Peter Rank got hold of it and noticed there were no oppo between him and that lovely white line. He scored so quickly the ref didn’t see. But thankfully before the oppo tried to lift him up the ref saw it and blew the whistle with his arm in the air. Direct between the posts new goal kicker John McK missed with a drop attempt, sigh! But that said no one was volunteerng and have a complete dirth of anyone with no. 10 experience at least Jonathan stepped up.

The next try came in with a move in which  Joe S showed he was a flanker well worthy of a centres shirt. He must have run 40 metres before getting caught just shy of the try line but thankfully Jareth was there in a great supporting role and finished the job. We were now at 10-13! With about 12 minutes to go. Another restart and another bounce! We were loosing heaps of territory due to certain players not manning up to catch the balls from kick off. This is an area several Exiles need to look at improving on. If the kick from a restart is not caught it allows the oppo to get right down our throats and make way more territory than they deserve. We need to attempt the catch, even if you knock it on, it’s got to be done boys, it’s killing me.

The third try cam in shortly after and as it was on the touchline, I am led to believe Jareth scored this too! Though without TMO we’ll never really know, really who scored this last try seems to be a matter of hearsay…. I was not expecting Jonathan McK to get it through, given his miss right in front of the posts, but with that ball on a tee he gave it an almighty hoof which must have been 40 feet up through the middle of the uprights. The kindly Uxbridge touch judge swung his flag low, but the ref had none of it and we moved to 17-13 up with 10 minutes to go. Fantastic kick!

However, both teams knew the clock was running down now and the tempo increased. Attacks were coming thick and fast. Some cracking runs and good defense. However, as time was running out the oppo scrum half I believe tore through a small ruck and managed to evade my grasp and that of anyone else bringing the oppo up to 17-18 with 2 minutes to go. We tried in vain to mount a counter attack but time was not our friend as the ball went out of play and the ref whistled an end to our hopes.

Exiles showed great spirit in this match coming back from 0 to almost win in the final twenty minutes. Not to mention fielding a back line with only 3 specialist backs (Stef, Alex N and Dan). Lots of good runs, especially from Dan A. Even saw Barry firing a lovely straight line into their backs. Though, not quite enough support was present as Dave Mac pointed out succinctly (probably a fitness issue we need to work on), no where near enough balls in catching the ball from a restart! We would have won for sure if only Chandra had not overrun a pass from Jonathan McK as this lovely flanker/hooker combo out in the outside centre / wing position failed to make the linkage. Just kidding. There were hundreds of we would have won if only moments. Not to mention the hiding we could have had if they grounded the four tries they fluffed and kicked numerous penalty kicks they missed…

Those back-row and front-row boys playing in the backs showed you can pretty much interchange the Exiles forwards and backs with consummate ease such is the wonder of our versatility. Sad result after all our work, but a good afternoon at the office, followed importantly with some well earned Guinness, and some other liquids which Tom Tom, and Tom managed to imbibe in an almost intravenous fashion from what looked like a 3/4 inch copper pipe attached to a plumbers stop/go valve, a yard of pipe and a funnel. Big thanks to Uxbridge who hosted the game at short notice and provided us a quality oppo, cracking hospitality and some dubious pints! Looking forward to the return match where I hope we get the point in our favour!

Tries:
Peter Rank
Jareth Keenan (2)

Cons:
Jonathan McKeogh (1)

Players:
Anthony Chapman
Alister Barnston
Tom Chambers
Chandra Sekar
Dan Avery
Joe Southwart
Alex Nazaruk
Jareth Keenan
Barry Cousins (skipper 1)
David MacSweeney
Gautam Tamang
Ghassan Matta
Jonathan McKeogh
Marc Hubbard
Nick Greenhalgh (sub skipper)
Peter Rank
Stefan McCabe
Thomas Laishley

Bad day at the office for the Exiles down in Isleworth.  Skipper Stef McCabe reports on the proceedings.

The Exiles started the game with 14 players. Got a good forwards try from a rolling mall, the pack rumbled up from the 22 and Fabio broke away and dotted down.

Went up to 15 players when Neal and Julian turned up 10 minutes in.

We received a penalty for some opposition players getting feisty which I believe Fabio was also involved in. I tapped the ball, passed it to a fired up Fabio who ran straight into a stiff opposition shoulder which put Fabio on his rear.  Unfortunately the ref had not said time on when I tapped the ball. When the ref turned to see what was happening, the first thing he saw was Fabio on his back and kick towards one of the opposition players. So the ref gave Fabio a red card. After the match in the bar when we questioned the ref about it he stood by his decision and said it was justified. In my eyes a red card was very harsh, perhaps a yellow would have done. In fairness to Fabio he was quite calm about it, spoke to the ref after the match and even apologised to me for the incident.

Dyll moved into hooker.

Marc Hubbard took a knock to his shoulder and had to go off.  Neal came on the field and moved into the backs while Jareth moved from wing into the back row.

The second half saw a nasty incident when the opposition put a ball in the sky which Alun ran on to and took magnificently around his knees. Unfortunately when Alun was in a low position an opposition player went flying past with his arm out wide which solidly connected directly with Alun’s nose. It didn’t look pretty. Alun went straight off to hospital.

With two players down, one of the few decent tempered opposition players who was on their bench said he would have a run for us. He popped into the back row and Jareth ventured back to take Alun’s place at fullback.

Jareth at some point got a punch or a stiff arm across the face. Credit to him though for not lashing out and keeping calm.

We received another penalty for a high tackle which Neal fairly enough took offence to but that triggered off tempers and had players walking around like pigeons with there chests and squawking at each other. The ref intervened and had words to both sides.

After telling everyone to call it down, no back chat, not to get involved, keep calm and carry on, a conversation began between Dave Morgan and the opposition number 10. It ended up getting quite heated between both players and by this time the ref and a lot of others, myself included were tired of it. The ref gave both of these players a yellow card.

All in all it was not an enjoyable day of rugby with our lack of numbers, our discipline problems mixed with the mouthy and unlawfully aggressive nature of some opposition players. The rugby itself though, our forwards were quite good on attack at points but the same old defensive story where they all hide behind the ruck and don’t spread out to form a defensive line, as such the opposition backs always had an overlap. Our backs put about two good passages of play together with the ball going through the hands and making good ground. Clive done well as always at running up a crash ball.  Jareth also got a good work out in the backs due to the super hoof of the opposition no.10. In total I think we played about 20 minutes of good rugby.

The final score for the record was 48 to 10. Our ten points is dubious as I only recall Fabio’s try. The ref was adamant we got one in the early 2nd half though. I thought he might have marked Dyll down for a try after he crossed the line – only to find out the touch judge (Phil Jones) said the ball was out before Dyll received the offload.

Tries:

• Fabio (1)
• Dyll (1?)

Team:

1       Steve Richards
2       Fabio Krasniqi
3       Ray Dennis
4       Marc Hubbard
5       Anthony Chapman
6       Dyll Davies
7       Jonathan McKeogh
8       Julian Sweeny
9       Stefan McCabe
10      James Hitchcock
11      Greg Holdsworth
12      David Morgan
13      Clive Lungley
14      Jareth Keenan
14      Neal Craig
15      Alun Simpson

Exiles disappointed after loosing the match they were leading in the 77 th minute by a point.

Nick Greenhalgh reports from the back of the scrum….

The Exiles had a disappointing day on sunny paddocks of Ealing Trailfinders rugby grounds. Things were looking comfortable for a win as we maintained a healthy lead 17-10 at about 8 minute to go. Sadly the B of E managed to breach our defences and cause errors through firing up some high kicks enabling them to get a deserved try. At 15-17 their kicker failed for about the 5th time to get the ball through the post, maintaining his 100% failure record. So at three minutes to go we seemed to have the game within grasp. Then sadly we gave away a penalty between the 22 and the 20 yard line in a non too tricky angle and B of E kicker finally hit his mark pushing them into the lead by a fatal point from which we were not to recover.

We were a little unorganised this week and barely hit the magic 15 at the start of the game. However, through playing a few people out of position we seemed to resemble a team. Eff thankfully made an appearance and took on Stef’s no. 9 shirt doing a splendid job at feeding Ronan Murphy as ply half with good ball. Eff also managed to run in a nice try from a quick penalty whilst the oppo looked aghast as they made no effort to get back and defend, caught well napping they were. Sadly Eff failed to put the ball between the posts to make it an easy kick and as a result we lost the match…. just kidding..

Chris Bruce our new man in the backs showed some class with some cracking runs and an awesome tackle on the oppo centre, fair smashed him he did. But out on the wing he probably got less ball than he should, suspect a bit more ball would have got him on the try scorers list.

The scrum had a hard ask today against a pretty mighty set of B of E props. Barry’s man must have been close to twice Barry’s weight and size, and a couple of the others weren’t much smaller. Support wasn’t bad today, and fitness seems to be getting better. Though we need to improve on both counts to get ourselves on the right side of the end result.

There were a few injuries and as we had only 16 players there were some brave soldiers who went off and came back in order to keep a full team on the pitch and continue out contested scrum ability. Big thanks to Alex K for coming back on with a bad hamstring pull, as well a Ghassan, Tom L and Mark H who all went off and came back on for the team…..

T managed to show good persistence and ran in a fine try. Clive Lungley also scored. Didn’t see it myself but several others of the team did and informed all that Chris Ashton’s trade mark dive is making a flamboyant entry in our grass roots style rugby.

Ronan our fly half also showed he could be elusive as he darted here and there often making good ground. Only grumble from me would be that the Exiles like to keep it in hand a bit more, as sadly we have few fit/fast enough to chase up and handle territorial kick attempts.

So all in all not a bad game, but a disappointing game. I understand B of E were denied top of their league table last season by a single penalty point from not phoning in a match result in time, so this suggests that they are a reasonable level, and as we nearly got the win we ought not be too down on ourselves.

Tries:
Clive Lungley
T (Gautam Tamanh)
Eff (Anthony Lynch)

Con:
Ronan Murphy

Team and their rough positions:
Nick Greenhalgh (8)
Barry Cousins (1) – Skipper
Clive Lungley (12)
Neal Craig (13)
Alex Kruczkowski (14)
Ghassan Matta (3)
Gautam Tamanh – "T" (6/7/11)
Tom Laishley (6/7/5)
Andy Madden (15)
John Moore (4)
Ronan Murphy (10)
Peter Rank (2)
Mark Hubbard (5,7)
Jonathan Mckeogh (7)
Christopher Bruce (11)
Anthony Lynch (9)