Pelicans versus Harrow floodlight videos

On what was to be a first for many players; playing under floodlights, Pinner Pelicans came back from behind to win with the final play of the match. A fast paced try from Chris Jepson from a break away and weirdly lofted pass from Chris Hall gave the opportunity for Ollie Blazey to convert to bring the final score 27-26.

The game, even though played during a snap cold spell had more heat than an open fire in a local public house, some of the attacking moves by Harrow left a lot to be desired, h********g an opponent is not really the norm in a local friendly!

Pinner, reduced to a scratch squad, with the 1st XV away at London French, a fistful of injuries and of course a Friday evening game meant that the pelicans were very low on numbers, fielding 14 players at the start of the game, Harrow had over 30 players available.

Despite this, under the leadership of ’sir Les’ the Pelicans held their own throughout the game, not letting constant rolling substitutes from Harrow unbalance their game; the pack held up and the packs supreme pace showed many of the oppositions weaknesses.

Tries from Jepson, Johnny, Chris Hall put everyone on high and added to the never say die attitude of the team. It was a shame that all of the conversions were not made as a clear points advantage would have reflected the enormous effort put in from the lads.

The introduction of the crossbar challenge led by Chris Hall who comically  missed a conversion from directly under the post, this was seen as a moment for the whole team to mock him loudly and leave Harrow players with a smile on their faces.

Special mention goes to two rugby debutantes:

Leo, (who after taking a knock on the back of the neck was taken off still saying he was alright to play, shame his eyes were facing north and south at the time)

Jamie, who in his first game played second row (mainly owing to his extreme height!) who had to come off with a back injury.

Hopefully this has not put them off and will become members of Pinner Pelicans in the future.

okay, now for the fun bit: unfortunately the  camera was not put in to use – floodlight might be a clue there! But never fear, a video camera was used – yippeeeeee!

Please click on the images below for the links to Youtube and enjoy

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Four tries are not enough: Pinner 1st XV versus London French

Pinner & Grammarians RFC match report 26^th March 2011

Four tries are not enough.

P&G’s had a difficult trip to London French who play on Barnes Common. The Boat Race meant that the players had to travel by train from Hatch End rather than by car.  Accumulated injuries left the team depleted of several key players and several were not in their usual positions. P&G’s kicked off and soon robbed the home team of possession. A couple of quick drives saw the ball swept wide to the left for prop Aaron Nicholas to score after only one and half minutes.  Fly half Paul James added the 2 points.  The game settled into a period of stalemate with the referee ever ready with the whistle at the break-down.  The London French pack began to dominate the rucks and mid-way through the half the won a scrum on the half-way line, moving the ball quickly to the left through several missed tackles to score in the corner.  The conversion failed.  With five minutes to go to half time the home side finally got into the lead with a try on the right also not converted.  As half –time approached Pinner won a line out through Alex Goring, normally a centre but playing at No 8. A scrum ensued which the visitors won and, regaining some of the earlier fluid movement moved the ball first to the left and then the right. Skipper Reza Sibilant was on hand to feed Alex Goring who, in characteristic style, knocked defenders aside to score under the posts. The simple kick was missed but P&G’s had a half-time lead of 12 – 10.

Pinner seemed to be asleep immediately on the resumption and allowed the very talented London French full-back to sprint down the left wing to restore the home sides lead.  After 10 minutes Pinner knock-on in front of their posts and the home pack, taking advantage of the referee, scored a push-over try which was converted to increase the lead to 22 – 12.   Pinner now woke up and a series of driving mauls brought them into the home 22.  From a scrum Alex Goring, relishing his new role as No 8 picked up and drove over for his second try. Again the conversion failed.  Ten minutes later French scored their fifth try to put the score at 27 – 17.  Pinner now mounted numerous attacks into the home 22 but handling errors denied scoring opportunities.  London French counter attacked only to lose the ball near the ten metre line. P&G flanked Richard Luiz gather the ball and powerfully ran through the opposition to bring the final score to 27 – 22 for the home team. Pinner had earned a losing bonus point keeping them in the top half of the table with one match remaining against Old Isleworthians at Shaftesbury Playing Fields on 9^th April.

Saturday, 26 March 2011 Ickenham 18 – 26 Old Merchant Taylors’ London French 27 – 22 Pinner & Grammarians Old Isleworthians 0 – 48 Belsize Park Old Tottonians 7 – 43 Uxbridge Quintin 7 – 27 Royston

Herts/Middlesex 2	Short Format Long Format
Team P W D L F A Diff B Pts Pts Adjust Old Millhillians 19 18 0 1 557 182 375 11 84 0 Old Merchant Taylors’ 20 14 2 4 563 285 278 15 75 0 Belsize Park 19 14 1 4 558 220 338 12 71 0 Royston 19 12 1 6 353 209 144 10 60 0 Pinner & Grammarians 19 10 1 8 465 366 99 11 53 0 Ickenham 19 8 2 9 291 242 49 7 44 0 Old Isleworthians 19 9 0 10 316 422 -106 3 39 0 London French 19 6 0 13 273 375 -102 8 32 0 Uxbridge 19 6 0 13 348 510 -162 7 31 0 Quintin 19 3 1 15 215 445 -230 6 20 0 Old Tottonians 19 1 0 18 116 799 -683 1 0 -5

Pelicans XV

On Friday evening P&G’s 2^nd XV took on the Harrow Vets under lights at Grove Field. In what proved to be a bruising encounter they came away victorious 27 – 26 thanks to a last minute converted try by Chris Jepsen who gathered an astute cross field kick by fly-half Chris Hall.

Playing for Pinner some of the reasons why

Playing rugby for Pinner Rugby Club has taken on a new dimension in the last couple of years. The club has gone strength to strength with the Seniors First XV winning two promotions in the last two years, currently sitting fourth in the Herts/Middlesex Div2 League. The introduction of the Pelicans this season has brought competition for places, brought back players from the past and a lot of new members wanting to play for Pinner. Vets have regularly played in fixtures with local clubs enjoying great games and a couple of victories.

The youth section is developing and the Under 14’s have increased their squad this season; again making places in the team no certainty. Next season sees the introduction of an Under 13’s squad and will be looking to increase numbers.

The mini section continues to grow and develop and recent performances at the Middlesex County Festivals is testimony to this. The Under 8’s were winners, The Under 11’s beat Rosslyn Park to become champions, the under 9’s and 10’s were losing finalists, it’s all looking good for next season.

We have a full and active social life at the club combining whole club social events; parties, BBQ’s  our own Summer Olympics, international evenings and squad trips to theme parks and other fun destinations including rugby tours, of course the seniors do indulge in a little alcoholic beverages at times!

Here’s another simple reason:

We met on Sunday I’m the Minis Chair of Rosslyn Park and my son plays in our U11 team who played against your boys as hooker on at the County Festival.

I wish to say congratulations to your team and the great  spirit with which they played in the fantastic and nerve racking last match of the league. Though sad to see our boys lose I thought it was fantastic to see the smiles and joy of your players on the final whistle – they were deserved winners. I must also compliment your players, coaches, parents for being very gracious in victory. I was also very impressed to see the all your players taking the time to shake the hands and thank opposite tem players, officials and coaches – you should feel very proud of them they were great ambassadors for your club and the sport.

Best regards

Graham Robson

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Youth Section: Under 14’s versus Harpenden victory 24-14

PINNER U14s VS HARPENDEN U14s    MIDDX/HERTS  LEAGUE

The final match of the league’s season saw two of the lower placed clubs fighting to avoid the wooden spoon and the ignominy of finishing last. Despite losing their previous 2 outings narrowly to top quality opposition, Pinner remained positive and launched into attacking play from the first whistle.

7 minutes in and Pinner took a 5-0 lead, courtesy of a fine 20 yard solo run down the wing by No 14 Callum George and it was within 7 minutes of that when Pinner doubled their lead following some solid build up play, bravely scored by Tyler Hone, the Pinner No 8.  Not wanting to be outdone, Harpenden replied almost immediately with a converted try for a 10 – 7 score line and, with a couple of minutes left until half time, Captain and Hooker Dominic Seiler powered through from 12 yards out, which fly half Harrison Davies converted for a solid Pinner lead of 17 – 7.

The first 10 minutes of the second half ebbed and flowed, with Pinner going close twice before inside centre Bradley Stevenson ran between the posts from 30 yards, which with an easy 2nd conversion for Harrison, saw the score sitting pretty at 24 – 7.

With 3 minutes to go, a moment’s lapse of concentration saw Harpenden score a soft try but it was too little, too late and Pinner were very worthy victors at 24 – 14.

For once, impossible to choose a man of the match as every player worked tirelessly and impressed. If they’d started the season like that, they’d have been 3rd or 4th!

Mini Section: Under 11’s winners @ Middlesex county Championship match report

On a bright Sunday morning, Pinner Under 11’s, along with Barbarian team mates – Kilburn Cosmos and Hampstead – set foot on Wasps ground, to take part in the Middlesex County Championships. It was going to be a hard, yet very rewarding competition. Hearts sank slightly when they were placed against Teddington and Rosslyn Park respectfully, two teams with great reputations and huge squads. Discussions had been held with higher ranking officials and it was decided that each of the games would be 15 minutes each half and would work on a table/league scenario; something Pinner were keen to do along with the other teams.

The coaches were able to work with the team, for forty five minutes, before they were to play, as this valuable time was needed, as most of the team hadn’t played together before. The organisation of the team came quickly and the coaches worked with small groups on perfecting specialised moves – the line, the scrum, line-out manoeuvres, phase one, phase two and phase three balls.  Confidence was growing and a keenness to get on the pitch and get started was becoming apparent. However, they had to wait and watch Teddington take on Rosslyn Park. Both teams showed straight away that they were there to win and a quick paced game ensued. Rosslyn Park – demonstrating good discipline and fine passing – came out on top at the end of the first half. The second half, saw a revitalised Teddington who with increasing pressure, pulled back two tries: final score 25-10 Rosslyn Park the victors.

Pinner’s first match was against Teddington, a team having just suffered a defeat, so were now ready for a battle. Pinner, from the kick off, carried the ball deep into the opposition’s half – their game plan was to use the power and strength of the forwards, to create space and pass out wide to the fast running backs. Within moments the ball was spun out to Ryan Healy, who side stepped the Teddington defence to cross the line – no conversions were to take place during the game, as the pitch had no posts, but at half time they were meant to be undertaken (for some reason this did not happen, depriving the trusted boot of Paul Nash, to put the ball between the posts).

Play continued after the restart with Pinner dominating all play, they were first to the rucks, channelling a quick ball and recycling it again to the forwards, where Pinner hooker, Jacob Talbot, powered his way through two tackles to place the ball over the line. Parents on the touchline could be heard cheering over everyone else; the coaches had, up to this point, remained quiet, but now exercised their vocal chords to spur the team on for ‘more of the same’; but the boys remained quiet and calm, quickly resuming their defensive positions.

This attacking formula continued for the remainder of the half, with Teddington making brief appearances in the Pinner twenty two, however, extreme tackling and great passing saw centre Sam Fenn run in two more tries before the half time whistle.

Having a full playing squad meant that coaches were able to swap players around, giving fresh legs to the team and allowing some to rest for the next game.

The second half was much tougher and although Pinner were able to extend their lead, with a try by Sam Marchant, Teddington were able to claw back a try with the last play of the match. Final score 25-5 to Pinner.

It was a tremendous effort from a team that had only practiced together just before the match. Walking off the pitch there were many smiles and an eagerness to play in the next game.

The second match, against Rosslyn Park, was going to decide who would win the Bowl and on paper Pinner coming into the game were definitely the underdogs, but as both teams lined up for the kick off they looked extremely evenly matched. Rosslyn played confidently in the first few minutes but were unable to break through Pinner’s immense immoveable defence and the game moved into a period during which the teams were fairly evenly matched. Eventually the stalemate was broken, when Sam Fenn broke away and ran speedily to score the first try. Rosslyn Park fought back strongly, whilst Pinner defended gallantly to remain ahead as the half time whistle blew.

Rosslyn Park opened the second half well and eventually found a chink in Pinner’s armour, running through to score a try and level the score. Pinner fought back with incredible resolve. This was finally rewarded with Sam Marchant, picking up the ball, from a 5 metre scrum and running in a try, to put Pinner ahead once again, with five nail-biting minutes to go.

Rosslyn Park didn’t give up and Pinner defended their goal line from a barrage of attack for all of those 5 long minutes. Hearts were in mouths as it looked as if Rosslyn had scored in the last play of the game. A palpable sigh of relief could be heard as the referee adjudged this to be a double move and their try wasn’t given. Pinner had won the bowl in a match that could not have been more exciting. Final Score: Pinner 10, Rosslyn Park 5

After the whistle blew, all of the squad could be seen jumping in the air, smiles abound, they had done it, they had beaten Rosslyn Park. Sam Marchant, Captain, lined up the squad to cheer the opposition and they did the same for the referee, as well as shaking his hand, which, admittedly took him by surprise, but in victory or defeat, the boys always show the spirit of the game.

Looking over to the touchline, there were some very pleased parents, relieved coaches and warm smiles from coaches and parents of other competition teams, who Pinner had played against throughout this busy season.

The squad lined up at the presentation tent and received their winners medals from the Chairman of Wasps – all had big grins, well done to all of you, a great achievement.

Squad: Ben Stone, Dylan Kelly, Jacob Talbot, Sam Marchant, Paul Nash, Ryan Healy, Louis George, Kai Gordon, Sam Fenn, Samuel Blumberg, Rudy Brass, Barty Cooke, John Hanrahan, Carter Quinn, Isola Kea, Qalam Trevelyan, Callum MacLoud, Angus Caplan

There are a large number of photographs uploaded in the Mini Section gallery, have a look and enjoy (you can print them off – no watermarks/copyright!)

A special mention and thanks to all of the parents who attended the festival and gave your support to the team, the coaches; Steve George, Paul Daffy, Keith Stone, Nick Marchant, Clyde Gordon and Spud who have worked hard to bring this team together, to Jo Talbot for the endless emails and organising and to every player in the squad who did their part in coming away as winners.

This victory tops off a very Middlesex Country Festival season for Pinner; seeing U8s Champions; U9s losing finalist (runner ups); U10 losing finalist (runner ups);and obviously U11s Champions. A great achievement for a small, friendly developing club.

Protected: Under 11’s @ Middlesex County Championship (photos)

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Pinner 1stXV versus Ickenham match report and photos

Pinner travelled over to local rivals Ickenham for the re-scheduled game that ended last time in the ref pulling a hamstring ending what would have been a great game for Pinner. To be honest, those who attended watched a great game of rugby with Pinner pulling back a deficit to draw a tightly contested game, here are some of the images from the game, match report to follow as soon as Sir Les has transferred good old pen to paper to electronic! Enjoy

Ickenham v Pinner Report 19^th March 2011

With the weather improving and the pitch drying out we were looking forward to fast flowing game of Rugby, with both sides trying to confirm their mid table position in League Two.

With both teams realising the importance of this re-scheduled game, it was a rough, tough start with some big hits going in, but within the 1^st 5 minutes Ickenham get their chance to put points on the board with a Penalty. Ickenham full back Irian, misses and we are back to a tough battle up front in the forwards. The referee is not making it any easier with his whistle stopping the flow. Pinner have a chance, a break from the back of their scrum results in the ball going through the hands of the backs Tim Tabua passes to speedster Jepson on the wing, he makes a lot of ground before a tough pass to Razzle goes to ground. The game starts to develop into a battle of the forwards, but with some scrappy, untidy play by both teams seem to lose their continuity. The first 20 minutes belonged to Ickenham but now moving into the 2^nd quarter Pinner are starting to gather momentum, A line out in Pinner’s’ 22, the ball is given to David Luiz who kicks long, he gets taken out very late. Ref blows and offers the penalty in Ickenham’s half. Luiz dusts himself down and picks up his kicking tee ready for a shot between the posts. Agonisingly, its just misses, from the resulting charged down 22 drop out Pinner mount a series of attacks, with only brave defensive work from Ickenham keeping them out. A Penalty to pinner and Scrum half Craig Lane takes a quick one, Pinner push hard and yes there’s a try for no8 Alex, unfortunately the ref did not see it.  Pinner are now on top and another series of attacks see David Luiz with an unbelievable dummy surge forward, scything through Ickenhams’ defence a ruck is formed and unfortunately Pinner lose control. Great defence from Ickenham in that final 20 minutes stopped Pinner from scoring as the whistle goes for half time. Later than we anticipated, but there were a lot of stoppages and injuries. Stalemate at Half Time 0-0

Second half under way and again its tough work for the forwards, the ref blows penalty to Pinner, David Luiz slots it through the posts 3-0, Pinner are carrying off where they left off in the 1^st half, but for passes going to ground and dropped balls this could have been a lot easier. Another great run from the Pinner backs results in a penalty to Ickenham for holding on in the tackle. Ickenham kick for touch. Pinner steal the line out and run it out of their 22, but a miss pass goes to an Ickenham player and they make ground. Ickenham forwards are now starting to put extreme pressure on the Pinner pack, and this results in Ickenham’s first try. The ball is controlled by their pack and they push towards the line, No8 Elliott picks up the ball and goes over. Irain Ickenham’s full back converts 7-3.

By now the Pinner pack was being pushed all over the place, losing their own scrum on numerous occasions. After a scrum in Pinner’s 22 the ball goes out to Ickenham’s backs and Chris Jepson puts in a somewhat dubious high tackle. The ref blows and Irain slots the penalty trough the posts. 10 – 3

This only seems to galvanize the Pinner team, Great play from Pinners forwards allows the backs some ball, Chris Hall makes a break and chips over the Ickenham defence, he collects the chip and sends a great pass to Alex on the inside, he must score, again, the ref has blown for a forward pass, everyone looks at each other, the ref was 20 meters behind the run of play, how on earth did he see that one.

The heavy pressure from the Ickenham pack is now causing Pinner all sorts of problems, and as another scrum collapses a penalty is awarded to Ickenham. Once again it goes over. 13 – 3

With 15 minutes to go, the game becomes a bit disjointed, until Pinner gather the ball in their own 22, Lee Seiler darts inside, and pass to Alex Wheeler who then sends a terrific pass to Craig lane, who picks out Captain Simon Whitcombe, dummies and then passes to full back Mark Razzle at pace, the ball goes to Tim who is tackled. Great play by Pinner. An Ickenham misdemeanour results in a Penalty to Pinner, a quick tap by Craig Lane and with some accurate passing the Pinner forwards storm towards the try line.

Try time, as Bernie Ritcher goes over. Are we going to see the famous Pinner come back they’ve done it before…David Luiz just misses the conversion. 13-8

From the kick off the ball is gathered by Pinner and with some smart passing the ball lands in the hands of front row Aaron Nichols, he dances his way through the Ickenham defence and scores a great try. Every breath is now held as Luiz, stands in front of the placed ball ready for a conversion that would knock the stuffing out of Ickenham and give the game to Pinner.

He misses and the game is all square at 13-13. Ref blows for fulltime. This score reflects what a tough bruising battle it was. Pinner showed great courage and determination to comeback from 13- 3 down.

Match report: ‘Sir’ Les Chaffe

Nest weekend Pinner travel to London French

Saturday, 19 March 2011 Ickenham 13 – 13 Pinner & Grammarians Saturday, 12 March 2011 Belsize Park 46 – 0 London French Old Merchant Taylors’ 45 – 0 Old Isleworthians Old Millhillians 25 – 13 Ickenham Pinner & Grammarians 90 – 0 Old Tottonians Uxbridge 34 – 10 Quintin

Herts/Middlesex 2	Short Format Long Format
Team P W D L F A Diff B Pts Pts Adjust Old Millhillians 19 18 0 1 557 182 375 11 84 0 Old Merchant Taylors’ 19 13 2 4 537 267 270 14 70 0 Belsize Park 18 13 1 4 510 220 290 11 66 0 Royston 18 11 1 6 326 202 124 9 55 0 Pinner & Grammarians 18 10 1 7 443 339 104 9 51 0 Ickenham 18 8 2 8 273 216 57 7 44 0 Old Isleworthians 18 9 0 9 316 374 -58 3 39 0 London French 18 5 0 13 246 353 -107 7 27 0 Uxbridge 18 5 0 13 305 503 -198 6 26 0 Quintin 18 3 1 14 208 418 -210 6 20 0 Old Tottonians 18 1 0 17 109 756 -647 1 0 -5

Pinner Pelicans versus Uxbridge match report and photos

Here are some of the images from the game, Pelicans lost but showed great improvement against an Uxbridge side who found them hard going; match report to be uploaded as soon as it received.. here it is

Pinner & Grammarians RFC: report on the 2^nd [Pelicans] XV match 12^th March

P&G’s, hosting a return fixture with Uxbridge, soon applied pressure with much of the early play in the visitor’s half.  As befits teams who do not play regularly together errors occurred and with the referee not allowing play to flow the game was rather stop-start.  Against the run of play Uxbridge were first to score but the extra points were not added.  Pinner responded with a try by no. 8 Angus Wilson which was converted by Paul James, playing this week at scrum-half giving the home side a 7 – 5 half time lead.

Several substitutions, both tactical and for injuries, further reduced the flow of the game in the second half. Once more Wilson was alert to opportunities when taking a quick penalty he crashed over for his second try. The conversion failed but Pinner had a comfortable lead of 12 – 5 only to see slack marking let in Uxbridge for an unconverted try to close the score to 12 -10.  The game was reduced to uncontested scrums as Uxbridge had no further replacement front row players available. This created openings for the backs to run the ball quickly and the visitors took advantage to score their third try wide on the left wing. Their fly-half put in a fine kick from the touch-line to give Uxbridge a 17 -12 lead.  With an injury to captain Les Chaffe and other key players Pinner began to tire. In injury time Uxbridge sealed the issue with a final converted try this time wide on the right to bring the score to 24 – 12 to the visitors.

With the continued success of the 1^st XV and many players, both new and returning, joining the club there is a real prospect of a regular 2^nd XV  and possible Vets teams at Hatch End. The £40,000 + drainage improvement paid for by the RFU with a contribution from Harrow Council has meant that both pitches have been usable throughout the season.  The club is looking forward to further success.

Pinner 1st XV 90 Old Tottonians 0 including photos

Here are some of the images from the game, the match report will be uploaded as soon as it received.

This week, Pinner hosted struggling side Old Tottonians, in what turned out to be a scrappy but high scoring game.

Pinner had faced the same side away three weeks previously and, although victorious, felt that they didn’t capitalise as well as they could have. With this in mind, they were looking to send the visitors away with their tails between their legs.

Almost immediately, Pinner got the ball rolling after some good platform building by the forwards. The ball got played wide and shipped through the hands until Adrien Boue found himself well beyond the gain line. With one man to beat, all he had to do was draw and pass to Pinner winger Chris Jepsen who casually ran it the rest of the way. Very shortly after, Totts did themselves no favours by getting a man sent off. In full view of the referee, a member of the front row swung a haymaker at 8 man Richard Luiz. To his credit, he didn’t react and, as such, the referee had no choice but to give the offender a red, leaving Totts with just 14 men on the field. This inspired Pinner and with some poetic justice, Luiz then outpaced and muscled his way through the opposition to earn himself a place on the scoreboard.

From here, the floodgates were well and truly open but Pinner were stuttering with their eagerness to score. Every player wanted to score off of every phase, so the inevitable outcome was 15 minutes of relatively dull play and handling errors. However, this didn’t interfere with a string of tries before half time from Steven Griffiths, Stuart Cooper and Jim Tabua, the first of which came from an inspired pass worthy of mention from Bernard Richter. Things were looking very positive indeed, but Pinner went into half time with thoughts of composure and clinical finishing, or the lack thereof.

A few home truths delivered by captain and coach at half time gave Pinner what they needed and they returned to play with tenacity and vigour.

The tries began rolling in left right and centre but the game was anything except fluid. Old Tottonians were starting the tire under the relentless pressure and it was beginning to show with injured players littering the field. Obviously this cannot be avoided, but there was a sense of willing to get it over and done with hanging in the air and scoring began to be a bit of a burden.

Jepsen earned his second try shortly after the restart, closely followed by fly-half David Luiz, Griffiths and Tabua again.

After obligatory tries from Richter and Sibilant, Jepsen earned his well deserved hat trick by cruising to the line in second gear. Even the front row was getting in on the action, with Lee Seiler happily shaking off numerous tackles and smashing over the line to emerge with a wide grin.

To top it off, Jepsen finished with a fourth try to punctuate the gravity of the victory. Final score sat at 90-0.

Saturday, 12 March 2011
Belsize Park	46 – 0	London French
Old Merchant Taylors’	45 – 0	Old Isleworthians
Old Millhillians	25 – 13	Ickenham
Pinner & Grammarians	90 – 0	Old Tottonians
Uxbridge	34 – 10	Quintin

Herts/Middlesex 2	Short Format Long Format
Team P W D L F A Diff B Pts Pts Adjust Old Millhillians 19 18 0 1 557 182 375 11 84 0 Old Merchant Taylors’ 19 13 2 4 537 267 270 14 70 0 Belsize Park 18 13 1 4 510 220 290 11 66 0 Royston 18 11 1 6 326 202 124 9 55 0 Pinner & Grammarians 17 10 0 7 430 326 104 9 49 0 Ickenham 17 8 1 8 260 203 57 7 42 0 Old Isleworthians 18 9 0 9 316 374 -58 3 39 0 London French 18 5 0 13 246 353 -107 7 27 0 Uxbridge 18 5 0 13 305 503 -198 6 26 0 Quintin 18 3 1 14 208 418 -210 6 20 0 Old Tottonians 18 1 0 17 109 756 -647 1 0 -5

Pinner & Grammarians U8’s Win Middlesex County Championship

The Middlesex U7’s and U8’s Tag Rugby Festival was hosted at Grasshoppers RFC, Isleworth,  Pinner’s Mini Rugby U8’s entered the development event, aimed at newly formed clubs who could enter 1 team.

Teams are mixed 7 a side, 5 mins are played each way, 1 point is awarded for a try, there are no conversions in mini rugby.

Pool Matches

London Scottish were first opposition, Pinner took a while to settle in, the pitch and opposition were both unfamiliar, a hard fought game with only 2 scores in it at full time,  Reece Connolly scored an excellent hat trick with Luke Sealby adding Pinner’s only other try of the game, Pinner won 4-2.  Pinner were now in there stride and next up was Teddington, after a 10 min break we were back on the pitch, a fast and flowing game that Pinner dominated from the start. The 2^nd hat trick of the day went to Maxwell Fullerton, Luke Sealby and Reece Connolly each added another 2 each, and our newest team member Asher Woldman also scored, Pinner runaway winners 8-2.  Next match was against Roslyn Park they had also played 2 games, and like Pinner were undefeated.  Roslyn Park were a real challenge, quick at tagging with some very quick players, the most physical game we played, Luke Sealby was injured after 2mins but carried on bravely to score. 1-1 at half time, the ref warning Roslyn Park about dangerous play. A tight 2^nd half but with 2 try’s from Reece Connolly Pinner won 3-2.  Final group match v Staines . Staines had only lost to Roslyn Park , and were desperate to progress. Staines are a team Pinner know well having played home and away recently.  An end to end game, with the lead swapping throughout the match. Result adjusted to a Pinner win 6-3, Staines deducted 1 point for abuse directed towards the referee.  Pinner try scorers Luke Sealby 3, Reece Connolly 2 and Jonathon Nye 1.

Final Pinner v Hackney Bulls

Pinner won the group with maximum 4 wins from 4. We faced Hackney Bulls in the final, they were also undefeated in there Pool Games. With supporters lining the full length of the pitch, a well contested final was on the cards.  Hackney were worthy and fair competitors, and the fastest game so far in the competition was underway. It was end to end stuff, Pinner going ahead early, Hackney came back straight away with a try to respond, this continued to half time with the score 3-4, Hackney in the lead. 7 tries in 5mins! Pinner substituted 4 players to ensure every player took part in the final. The pace of the game continued where we left off the 1^st half.  With only 1 minute left Pinner had got the score back to 6-6.  With a final flourish Luke Sealby scored a try to make it 7-6, in the final minute Hackney had possession, but Pinner managed the magic 7 tags to force possession back to Pinner, the ref signalled the end of the game, an amazing 7-6 win to Pinner. Try scorers Reece Connolly 1, Maxwell Fullerton 1, Asher Woldman, Jonathon Nye 2, Luke Sealby 2.

Presentation of engraved plaque and medals followed the final whistle, with all teams gracious in victory and defeat.  Ciara Evans as nominated team captain received the prize from the event organiser Neil Mackenzie (Grassoppers) and Russell Price (Chairman Mini Rugby Middx County RFU).  Coach Andy Nash was extremely proud of the team that played fairly and with great energy throughout the day.

Wow what a day, our 1^st experience of a rugby festival and we came away as winners in our division, the 1^st time any mini rugby team from Pinner has achieved this. Russell Price (Chairman Mini Rugby Middlesex County RFU) even gave us and Jo Talbot a special mention, as he has seen Pinner & Grammarians grow in 4 short years, and attend the Middlesex Events.

Without exception all players got involved, gave the opposition respect and enjoyed our success. I was delighted to face Hackney Bulls in the final, a team that have hosted us and been to visit Pinner, Julian there Head coach is a real gentleman and encourages his team to behave in the same way.  The final proved to be the fastest game of mini rugby I have ever seen, 13 tries in 10 minutes of rugby awesome!

Thanks to Richard to coaching, Sonia for keeping score and all Parents for getting your players to Grasshoppers on time and ready to play, I’m sure you found it very worthwhile.

Andy Nash

P&G’s power on 37-12 victory over Quintin RFC

Pinner & Grammarians RFC match report for Sat 5^th March 2011.

After last week’s aborted match at Ickenham P&G’s were keen to back into their winning ways.  Taking on Quintin at the Civil Service Sports Ground, Dukes Meadows, Chiswick the visitors soon showed their intent with a breath-taking opening spell of powerful running by the forwards and fluid movement with the backs. Quintin were forced to concede an early penalty following a strong run my prop Simon Whitcombe. However after only 6 minutes another Pinner attack saw the ball moved to flanker Stuart Cooper who rounded the winger to score wide on the left. The conversion failed but from the kick-off P&G’s moved the ball through several pairs of hands before centre Timoci Tabua beat three defenders to score. The conversion by Paul James narrowly missed the posts but P&G’s had a 10 – 0 lead after only ten minutes.  Line-outs have not been one of P&G’s stronger elements but today, with the accurate throwing in from Simon Whitcombe, they were dominant also winning ball on the Quintin put-in. On 20 minutes the home team, still on the back-foot, conceded yet another penalty for falling over the ball in the ruck. This time James added the points to give P&G a 13 – 0 lead.  In spite of a good run by hooker Burns Pinner relaxed and allowed Quintin to get into the visitors 22.  The home side failed with a penalty in front of the posts but with five minutes to go to half-time a slack pass by Pinner was intercepted by the home number 9 Sanger who ran in from 40 metres. Full back Mitchell added the two points to give a half-time score of 13 – 7 to P&G’s

With-in a minute of the re-start scrum-half Simon Griffiths broke blind from a ruck on the home 22 only to be bundled into touch near the try-line. After 10 minutes Pinner stole the ball in the Quintin 22 and quickly drove prop Aaron Nicholas over for their third try.  James’s conversion from wide on the right went in off the posts. P&G now had a comfortable margin of 20 – 7 but pushed to get the fourth bonus point try. This took a little while but when fly-half Paul James’s high kick out of his own 22 if was skilfully gathered by substitute winger Chris Jepsen who sprinter a good 60 metres to score in the right corner. A couple of minutes later P&G again broke out from their own 22 with full-back Mark Razzell didn’t quite have the pace to complete his run from the half-way line.  Quintin were forced into conceding penalties, James being successful with two more attempts at goal.   The home side kicked deep into the P&G 22 and then forced over Quintin player Sepand for their second try to bring the score to 31 – 12 to the visitors.  With only five minute remaining another flowing movement involving strong runs from several forwards, the ball moving across the field and back found prop Aaron Nicholas on the left to shake off a few desperate tackles to score his second and Pinner’s fifth try.  The final score was a satisfying 38 -12 top the Hatch End based team thus consolidating their place in the top half of the Herts / Middx Div 2.

Next week P&G entertain Old Tottonians at Shaftesbury Playing Fields with the 2^nd XV also at home.  New players and supporters are sure of a warm welcome.