ALL GOLDS HAMMERED AT HAMMERSMITH – AGAIN
Christopher Wilson at Chiswick RFC
HAMMERSMITH HILLS HOISTS 80 – 04 BRISTOL ALL GOLDS
Bristol All Golds were comprehensively thumped by Hammersmith Hills Hoists who collected 15 tries in a breathtaking display of running rugby league at Chiswick RFC. The All Golds had little answer to the gold and green tide after the first quarter and continued their sorry record against the Hoists in Chiswick having now conceded over 60 points in each of their last three visits. The All Golds did have the last word, however, with an unconverted Luke Davies try but it was scant consolation for their efforts.
With a squad shorn of five players away on international duty, the All Golds were not at full strength for their encounter with Champions for the last two years, Hammersmith, who were smarting from their last-minute defeat by bitter rivals Wests Warriors last week.
Conversely, the All Golds were buoyed by last weekend’s home win over Brentwood and it showed during the first set as they took the ball up confidently and powerfully, making good ground upfield and putting in a decent kick on the last tackle.
However, they then conceded a penalty, the first of 14 against them during the game, as discipline frayed and the count mounted. The All Golds also played with 12 men for 20 minutes as Jacob Purcell was sin-binned twice, once in each half, handing the Hoists an advantage they simply didn’t need.
The Hoists soon got the scoreboard moving when Hayden Carpenter went over in the corner after All Golds’ wing Liam McGrath was forced into touch following an interception by Callum Merrett.
Benji McKay was unable to convert, and he also missed the goal for Carpenter’s second try ten minutes later but landed ten of his next 13 efforts to enlarge the Hoists’ points tally.
The All Golds’ played well for the first quarter of the game. Their attack showed promise, though the Hoists were able to hold them at bay, and the defence held up well before mistakes started to creep in to their play around the 20-minute mark.
Then the Hoists forced a goal-line drop-out and Eamonn Iheme forced his way over from close range, Carpenter adding the goal.
The All Golds were fortunate to win a goal-line drop-out themselves, though the ball clearly went out on the full from the restart, but from then on, the tide turned and the All Golds were comprehensively drowned.
Purcell was shown a yellow card for ungentlemanly conduct and by the time he returned, the score had blown out from 14-0 to 32-0.
Jordan Main got the first from Jack Ryan’s break, Joel Strasser’s long run was supported by James Russell and then Russell set the platform for Callum Corey to go over.
Corey grabbed a second just before the interval, as McKay got his kicking radar working to add all four goals for a 38-0 interval lead.
The half-time break did little to stem the flow as the All Golds conceded back-to-back penalties and Charles Beatty arrowed in for a try and added a second for good measure four minutes later.
In the next five minutes, Carpenter completed his hat-trick and Russell added his second as the Hoists cruised through the 50-point mark as the All Golds took 13 minutes to get the ball in hand from the start of the half.
With it they applied some pressure to the Hoists’ line and some lovely passing allowed Rob Davies to drive over, but he was unable to ground the ball to the referee’s satisfaction.
Purcell was then sent to the sinbin for the second time after a high tackle and the Hoists struck immediately through Ryan who gathered a bouncing ball from a kick to touch down.
Six minutes later, Beatty’s break gave Strasser a walk-in try and after Purcell returned Will Simmonds touched down.
With seven minutes remaining, McKay crossed for the Hoists’ 15th and final try, but the All Golds had the better of the final five minutes.
They regathered the restart and earned back-to-back penalties before setting up the same passing movement that got Rob Davies over, but this time Luke Davies was the recipient and was awarded the try, denying the Hoists a shut-out.
It doesn’t get any easier for the All Golds’ as their next fixture is a National Cup tie in Hull against National Conference Yorkshire B league leaders Skirlaugh.
MatchStats
HOISTS: Joel Strasser; Lucius Yau, Charles Beatty, Benji Mackay, Hayden Carpenter; Jack Ryan, Tyler Rush; Ryan O’Connor, James Russell, Eamonn Iheme; Jordan Main, William Jones; Thomas Shea. INTERCHANGE: Will Simmonds, Conor McDonald, Leon Bird, Callum Corey.
Scorers:
Tries: Carpenter (3, 14, 47), Iheme (22), Main (30), Russell (34, 50), Corey (37, 40), Beatty (41, 45), Ryan (59), Strasser (65), Simmonds (70), Mackay (73).
Goals: Mackay 10 from 15
ALL GOLDS: Joe Capener; Lewis Harris, Luke Davies, Dan Short, Liam McGrath; Jack Uren, Callum Merrett (Capt.), Harry Boots, Adam Turner, Kieran Jackson; Eric Davidson, Rob Davies; Jacob Purcell. INTERCHANGE: Charlie Brabham, Joe Macklin, Harrison Clifford.
Scorers:
Tries: Luke Davies (77)
Goals: Merrett 0 from 1
Scoring Sequence: 4-0, 8-0, 14-0, 20-0, 26-0, 32-0, 38-0, (HT), 42-0, 48-0, 54-0, 60-0, 64-0, 70-0, 76-0, 80-0, 80-4, (FT)
Referee: Cameron Gray
Penalties: Hoists 14-5 All Golds
Sin Bin: Purcell (All Golds) 27 – ungentlemanly conduct; 58 – high tackle
Thatchers Cider Bristol All Golds’ Player of the Match – All Golds’ starting props Kieran Jackson and Eric Davidson both put in strong performances, but the award goes to Davidson who made any number of hard drives forward and tackled ferociously when he was on the field.