Brave Finchley battle hard on the Heath.

Finchley turned up for this game with just 15 men and with Jimmy Cohen, Aslan Kaplan, Charlie Hall and Jamie Hartnoll all carrying injuries. However, for large portions of the first half the Finchley side were the better team. For the first 20 minutes the boys in red and white looked more potent in attack and with some hard lines in the centres and good tactical kicking from fly half they looked the more likely team to score.

However, as is becoming a worrying trend for this team, they did not take their chances and were eventually hit on the counter. Despite some good scramble defence, the Hampstead tight head prop eventually went over from the base of the ruck when Finchley did not properly defend the fringes. 7-0

The red and whites soon bounced back though and after Aslan Kaplan made a great break on a wide Oz, he offloaded to Hartnoll, who had made a good support run, and he dived over in the corner. Davidson missed the conversion.

Finchley sustained the pressure after this and looked really promising when the backs managed to get it out wide. However, the team were hampered when Coleman and then Cohen had to spend some time on the sidelines to nurse knocks and with no subs it was like having guys in the bin. Despite this disadvantage, Finchley did almost score when Inigo Saxon Stone made a good interception and threatened to run 60m to score but sadly he was caught by the full back just short.

Unfortunately, in the last 15 minutes of the half Hampstead twice picked the ball up in their own half (from Finchley mistakes) and got over the line and made the score 21-5. Finchley came very close to getting a try back before the break but when first the ref seemed to miss Sayer being taken off the ball after a good chip over the top and then Kaplan being tackled round the neck when a try looked likely, captain Coleman rightly elected to ensure we came away with something before the half ended and after Davidson put over the penalty we were still very much in it at 21-8.

At half time the mood was positive, as the boys knew that they were playing some good stuff and if we cut out the mistakes the game was easily winnable.

In the second half we started brightly and after a long penalty kick to the corner by stand in fly half Davidson the boys were looking to hit quickly with an attacking lineout from 5m out. Sadly though, this chance was wasted as a result of more handling errors during a promising move.

After about 10 minutes of the half Fnchley's injury issues and lack of subs was starting to have an affect when it was clear, Sayer, Hall, Hartnoll and Cohen were clearly struggling with injuries. When Hampstead were awarded a try that was actually held up, this rubbed salt into these already open wounds as it started to look like the come back would not happen.

With the win looking unlikely, Hall, Sayer and then Kaplan all had to go off meaning we would finish the game with just 12 men! Despite the lack of numbers Hartnoll and Davidson almost combined to get a consolation score but in the last 5 minutes Hampstead twice found themselves with huge overlaps and scored two more tries and give the score board a very one sided look.

This reporter thinks that, despite the win, the Hampstead 12 or "Stripes" need therapy this week to get over Kaplan's shocking chat all game.

It was a good effort from all who played and special mentions should go to Colt Aidan for stepping up to make his senior debut when the Friday night call to arms came, to Jamie Hartnoll who looked very good in attack (when he caught the ball) and to Inigo Saxon Stone who put in tireless effort at scrum half. However, it was colt Julian Bayley-Jones was given man of the match for his defensive efforts and especially for
One huge tackle on Hampstead rampaging no 8.

Let's hope next week we can get a full squad out and that we regain some potency in attack and get back in the winning habit!