Davies delights as 'Combe hammer the Hammers

Westcombe park 2s made the journey across to West London to take on Hammersmith and Fulham 2's, after last weeks positive performance against OE's we were feeling confident that with the same performance a good result could be on the cards.

The game kicked off and 'Combe were immediately on the back foot, the Hammers clearly wanting to take the game to us, 2 minutes in and a penalty at the ruck gave the Hammers a early chance at goal, their fly half unable to convert, from the resulting 22 dropout, a basic error of 'Combe players being infront of the kicker gave possession back to their opponents but the referee instead of giving a free kick awarded a penalty! again the 10 going for goal and luckily again missing. 'Combe had real trouble finding there feet and could not find a way of getting into the game, the Hammers being the dominant side for the opening 15 minutes then had a line out 25 meters out a good catch and drive had the Combe pack in all sorts of trouble and the home side marched us back to our try line for a well worked try for their pack, conversion missed 5-0, this seemed to spark 'Combe into life, the forwards responding to their earlier humiliation, a number of strong carries from number 8 Ryan Hackett and inside centre Ben Hennah giving us a good go forward platform to work from, on 22 minutes after a good couple of slow plays from the forwards hooker Billy Bignell buried his way over from close range, conversion successful from Joe Simpson and 'Combe lead 5-7.
With the game evenly in the balance and Combe struggling to work there way up the gears, a try from nothing after 29 minutes as fullback Josh Penney's clearance kick looked to be easily dealt with by the Hammers fullback only for him to completely miss the ball and grab at air, Penney who was chasing the kick was quick enough to gather the ball and go in under the posts much to the embarrassment of the home sides fullback, Penney this time with the conversion and Combe lead 5-14, Combe began to get a bit of a grip on the game the forwards looking more lively and the backs running good lines when given the ball, from a ruck Ben Faurie distributed good quick ball to flanker Jamie Sims with the backs all wanting the ball with a 3 man overlap available he took the ball on himself, a penalty given away at the ruck gave Penney a chance to extend the lead, penalty successfully and Combe lead 5-17 after 33 minutes, the rest of the half was Combe being more dominant but the half ended 5-17, the team talk at half time from coach Si Campbell and captain Nikki Davies was to get the ball wide quick to our pacey back line.

The 2nd half started brightly for Combe, showing more of what they was capable of, on 45 minutes a well taken line out and good hands down the line lead to a good break by Josh Livett who had Nikki Davies coming to support from his opposite wing to score the try, conversion missed 5-22

On 57 minutes a good break from Joe Simpson saw the fly half kick through and get in behind the home defence to gather and score to give Combe a 5-27 lead and was now comfortably in control of the game.
A scrum just to the left of the posts 25 meters out see scrum half Ben Faurie dart down the blindside, drawing in the defence and good hands from Alex Smith see captain Nikki Davies go in for his 2nd try of the afternoon with 63 minutes played, Combe lead 5-32.

Into the last 10 minutes and the home sides fitness began to tell but was still being physical in defence until good hands got the ball to debut Combe replacement hooker Ted Lang to draw the defence in and give a nice pass with 2nd row Jamie Taylor only having to fall over the line for the final try of the game, a good conversion out wide from Simpson ended in a final score of 5-39 to Combe.

Special mentions go to Alex Smith who worked tirelessly throughout and at times was like having a extra flanker on the pitch.
Ryan Hackett for a number of strong ball carries and captain Nikki Davies who had a great game and was always coming off his wing coming inside looking for work and even pulled off a Carlos Spencer type between the legs pass that Simmo gathered.

Also a special thanks to our hosts Hammersmith & Fulham for a great after game social and being so welcoming, good fun with the boat race and JT's poor attempt at downing a pint!! (Standard JT!!)