Exciting start and 1 step closer to Twickenham!!

On a sunny afternoon at Summers Lane a new look Finchley in their 90th anniversary shirts (red and grey) that were donated by club legend Geoff Otley took on Hampstead in a friendly fixture.

With the visitors cup game also being cancelled this game gave Finchley the opportunity to test themselves against a team from London North West 2. The game got off to a frantic start with indecision in the Hampstead being created by some good kicking from debutant 10 Ronan O’Sullivan and some excellent defence from all 15 players.

Hampstead soon gathered themselves and put together some good fast passages of play to find themselves in the Finchley 22, but Finchley’s cover defence coupled with some ferocious hits from the new look back row of Dylan Thomas, Sam Sudell and captain Aleks McCarthy in particular meant Finchley were able to clear their lines. This back row combination along with Willacy and Simms put some good pressure on at ruck time, helping Finchley to force the Hampstead team into making errors and giving away penalties. This led to the first scoring opportunity a penalty for Tufft to have a crack at, unfortunately Tufft was just wide of the mark on this occasion.

Although this chance went begging it was not long until the Finchley pressure told, with Suddell and Earl putting great pressure on the Hampstead 9 at the scrum. This led to a hack through from Earl and debutant Elliot Bilham-Ware was on hand to dive on the ball for Finchley’s first try, missed conversion 5-0.

This try and the manner in which it was created seemed to kick start the Hampstead team who scored 2 tries in quick succession converting one of these scores, 5-12.

This set back did not deter the men in red and grey who came straight back at Hampstead putting on some excellent pressure at the re-start, this led to the Hampstead 10 making a poor kick which was gathered by Lewin and resulted in Finchley earning another penalty at ruck time. This penalty was duly converted by Earl, 8-12.

A few minutes later thanks to some excellent scrummaging from the Finchley pack Earl was able to pick at the back and ghost round his opposite man and then feed the flying Lewin who touched down in the corner for Finchley’s second try, converted by Earl, 15-12.

Finchley then put in a passage of play which showed off some of the exciting talent we have at the club, great kicks from O’Sullivan and Bilham-Ware along with some excellent tackling from all led to another fumble from the Hampstead players which Tom Lewin was able to hack through and gather to power through for another well earned try for Finchley, conversion missed.

Half time: 20-12

The second half got underway in the same manner as the first finished with substitute Noonan taking the ball cleanly from the re-start once again providing a platform for the exciting looking back line to run with the ball.

Hampstead though were able to play some quick flowing rugby which led to another try (missed conversion) making the scores 20-17.

With Finchley feeling the pressure coming back at them, they reacted positively putting on some great pressure in defence to force the mistakes. This good defence in their own 22 led to another Finchley penalty which allowed O’Sullivan to clear.

The introduction of Sam Thomas added a new dimension to the Finchley midfield with the young Kiwi running some great angles, breaking the defence at will. One of these breaks put Hampstead on the back foot which subsequently led the away team giving away another penalty, Earl tapped quickly and fed Lewin who was held up just short of the line.

With players swapping positions throughout the afternoon it was excellent to see that all players were not phased by switching throughout the afternoon, this was optimised with Tufft putting in a good display at 13. Pressure from Finchley’s version of George North and Sam Thomas led to panic in the Hampstead three quarters and Saxon-Stone was able to intercept and power his was to the line, missed conversion, 25-17.

Once again Hampstead came back scoring out wide and converting making the scores 25-24 and a nervous final few minutes for the coaching staff and supporters.

Although Hampstead spent the last 5 minutes inside the Finchley 22, some good scrummaging from Vacca, Cooper and Willacy meant the Hampstead pack were not able to get the upper hand. Once again a bullish effort in defence kept out the visitors for the home team to hold out for a well earned victory.

Final score: 25-24

This performance from Finchley was full of great highlights, whether it was excellent forward play, good kicking or the pace out wide, all 15 executed their jobs well and took their chances. Most pleasing was the effort in defence which led to 2 Finchley tries and frustrated the visitors all afternoon.

This display showed what Finchley are capable of this season and if training numbers and player availability stays at current levels then the Summers Lane club can look forward to a good season.

Next week sees Finchley travel to Hemel Hempstead for the first league game of the season.