Rosslyn Park Hatters

Summer Social 2017.

Cavalry Guards club.

Lucky to have well connected players!

Whether our match is Home or away, you'll find us, the Rosslyn Park Hatters, in Hawkins Forge in Clapham Junction come Saturday night.

Great atmosphere, craft ales and hearty artisan grub. See you there!

Big shout out to our 2017/18 sponsors!

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Friday 30th September

Rosslyn Park Hatters 15 - Hammersmith & Fulham 14 (friendly)

Excitement levels in the Rosslyn Park Hatters’ camp were beginning to reach fever pitch on Friday 30th September. The toughest selection decisions of the season so far saw some difficult choices being taken by the management, who in turn demanded that all players step up and prove their worth on the pitch.

With the floodlights at the Rock illuminated, Park once more went into battle with their old foe, Hammersmith and Fulham. During an extremely cagey opening 10 minutes Park’s pack began to assume their dominance and were rightly rewarded with a penalty 30 metres out. With Crawford caressing the ball over the posts with the finesse of a ballerina performing the closing pirouette in Swan Lake, Park were in the ascendancy.

With the wind in their sails the boys continued to camp in their opponents’ half and were rewarded with a scrum within touching distance of the Hammers’ 22. This would be the first time the front eight would pack down against one another and tensions were running high. Just as the game was about to begin again an extremely unfortunate turn of events meant the ref had to be taken off the pitch for medical attention. As the players looked to keep warm it was deemed the ref couldn’t return to the field of play. Both captains agreed that the opportunity to play under the lights should not be wasted and Rogan (the Hammers’ Captain) admirably stepped up and agreed to officiate a friendly.

No longer a league game, play began to take a more open and creative tone. The Hammers were the first side to draw blood by running some hard and fast lines which included knocking the otherwise granite defence of big George Burton for six. With some quick passes out wide a well-worked try followed, 3-7 and it was all to play for.

Following a disappointing cricket season at Barnes, Park’s mercurial winger – Jack Porter – chose this day as his first game to slip back into the fold. With a golden goose step at his disposal and a fierce turn of pace he made quick work of chipping over the Hammers’ defence, gathering his own kick and crossing over the line. 10-7 and that was the half.

Restarts have caused the Hatters some challenges this season and the same could be said as the second half resumed. A spilled catch from the kick-off saw the Hammers regain possession and begin to build some phases. Under sustained pressure the Hatters continued to hold their defensive line, not least due to their wolfpack mentality and animalistic noises in D. Unfortunately centre Dave Beale picked up concussion for his tackling endeavours (some say he was inspecting the artificial grass before the Hammers’ 12 crashed into him). After many phases of play the Hammers finally broke Park’s line, converting their try to take the tally to 10-14.

Cometh the man, cometh the hour. After thinking he might not play for Park this season Chrissy Scott joined the pack and the expectant crowd could feel he had fire in his belly and was carrying more beef than a Ginger Pig delivery van. Having caught a Hammers' return kick he decided to grab the bull by the horns and run straight through the Hammers' defensive line, opening the game right up. With Park’s spirits lifted and mere minutes left on the clock it seems fitting that it was young Mr Scott who crossed the line and secured victory for the Hatters.

Park would like to thank Hammersmith and Fulham for a very well-fought game, with a particular appreciation going to Rogan for taking on officiating responsibilities.

Next weekend Hatters’ skipper Joe Wigley returns and will lead the boys as they continue their league campaign away to London Cornish.

Hatters 21 - 12 Chobham.

After pushing Richmond close for 60 minutes last week, their second round match against Chobham was a great opportunity to get the season back on track. Given their troubles with the line out last week, it was great to see Joe Wigley hitting his man whilst it was the opposition who apparently couldn't catch a cold, let alone a line out throw.

The first half was a lot closer than the Hatters would have liked given their supremacy at scrum time. Following sustained early pressure by the Hatters in the Chobham 22, Dan Willis broke from the maul only to knock the ball on when tackled at the line. Thankfully all was not lost as a few minutes later a well worked backs move saw Tom Longley nudge the ball through that sat up nicely for Jamie Payne who saw off his opposite man and finished in the corner. It looked like Hatters would go into the break with a bit of breathing space but, unbeknownst to the Hatters, Chobham had a sixteenth player on the pitch in the form of the Hatters’ Adam Alexander. He rescued Chobham’s first half with a precision cross field kick, as he attempted to clear the Hatters’ line, that landed in the hands of the opposition who took full advantage and ran in the try. It was a busy half for Alexander who was yellow carded as a result of repeated infringements by the team. Things could have been worse for the Hatters had it not been for Chobham’s 10 who failed to take advantage of several penalties by missing touch more often than not.

It was a slow start to the second half following a raft of changes at the break, but things began to take shape, and Ed Peck made an impact with some good running rugby and a couple of steals at the breakdown. Despite the fresh legs, Chobham turned pressure into points as they ran in another try. There could have been another for Chobham had Longley not scythed down the Chobham winger with one of his trademark tackles that turned out to be the catalyst which brought about a momentum swing. The Hatters spurned a couple of try-scoring opportunities with some loose passing but were able to maintain the pressure and a well executed line out in the corner enabled the ball to be shipped out to Josh Kelly, who dissected the Chobham defence and went in under the posts.

Whilst the Hatters prevented Chobham from earning a losing bonus point, things could have been better had they been able to capitalise on their territorial dominance and try scoring opportunities. Credit must be given to the Chobham back row who took every opportunity to slow the Hatters' ball and pilfering it on more than one occasion at the breakdown.

Hatters next game is away versus London Irish Nomads for a 3pm KO. Travel arrangements TBC.

Saturday 12th September 2016.

RP Hatters 12 - Richmond Normans 24:

After a tight first 40 minutes in which the Hatters had the best of possession and territory, they went in 5-0 up at the break after Grant Somerville finished off an excellent try in the corner with the last play of the half. After the turnaround, Park began to tire a little as Richmond introduced a number of reinforcements to the fray. As they tired in the third quarter, the Hatters fell off a couple of first-up tackles and started to panic with the ball in hand. In that period, Richmond managed to run in three tries, one of which was extremely well-worked leading to an overlap on the outside, the other two arising from kicks through and a straight foot-race.

Park missed the opportunity to stem the tide as confusion reigned at the line-out, causing the loss of three in quick succession. While Richmond managed one more score, the Hatters showed great spirit and determination in the final ten minutes to hold out on their line and respond with the last word through a hard-won try from debutant prop, Sam Dick, converted by Ali Crawford. At the final whistle, while the Hatters had much to be proud of for the first league game of the season, not least huge effort and commitment on the part of all for the entire game, one couldn't help thinking they let this one slip through their fingers.

However, fear not. This did nothing to dampen the first social of the season. At the clubhouse Longers and Newcombe stepped up as joint men of the match while Mason did his penance as dotd. Despite it appearing that under the new social secretary regime new players are to be punished rather than rewarded for their first appearance, the new caps, Tom Mills, John Morfopoulos, Sam Dick, Safeer and Jamie Davies did the necessary after putting in solid first performances on the pitch. A boat race down, pub golf took a dozen or so of us to Clapham Junction to prepare us for the inevitable Infernos. After a solid first few holes, prepared we certainly were...Thanks to the social secs.

Game this Saturday vs Chobham at home on the 1s pitch - meet 1.30pm for a 3pm k-o.