Go West....London

Words from Simon Bram

On a Saturday where the winter weather seemed to make its full debut, 85% of the selected Watford 1st team travelled to Greenford to take on a West London team who are always very physical and always throw everything at the opposition. The other 15% in Chris Routley and Jack Upton decided to travel somewhere else, 20mins down the road leaving us with no balls to warm up with and a slightly disjointed start.
The game kicked off and it was clear to see the intent in West London and how their game plan was based around being physical in the tight and running hard crash lines in attack and to slow the ball down in defence and rush up, closing down the space this new look Watford team thrive on. This gave Watford something to think about and we soon found ourselves trying to over play and get the ball wide too early. A couple of phases into the game and a couple of forced passes in the wider channels allowed the West London winger to read a pass, take the interception and touch down under the posts, conversion made and Watford were 7-0 down with 2mins on the clock. This rallied West London giving them momentum and for the next 5 minutes they used their pack to great effect with numerous pick and goes and short passes off their 9. Watford were giving some yards away and struggled to get possession of the ball but stood firm and West London started to give away some penalties and make mistakes allowing Watford to relieve the pressure and clear their lines.
In a physical first 10, Watford found themselves having to reshuffle with Holloway taking a stinger to the shoulder. Tathan to 12, Yates to wing and Josh to fullback.
Having put a few phases together around the half way line, Wilkinson now at fullback, found himself some space and broke through a number of tackles after a perfectly timed pass from Yates to give Watford the score they needed, conversion made, 7-7 after 10mins. The remainder of the half was some what of an arm wrestle with both teams wanting to play different forms of the game and neither really dominating. At 33mins Wilkinson again broke the line and dotted down for his, and Watford’s second of the afternoon - a vital score with half time approaching. Some ill discipline at the break down on our own 22 near the end of the half saw West London go for the 3 points making the halftime score 10-14.
The half time chat was simple, we haven’t turned up, we’ve allowed them to take the collisions on their terms and we need to wake up and play our game!
Watford started the second half with more control, higher intensity and very quickly settled into the game. We started the half going through phases, finally dominating possession and moving West London around the pitch with some good forward carries, particularly from the ever present Luke Hammill, Adam Hancock and the sometimes present, when available James Powell. Watford soon found themselves camped on the West London try line and Holloway, back on at half time, found himself somehow and maybe questionably held up over the line. 5m Scrum to Watford and try time for Hammill after a solid push from the pack, conversion made - in fact, all conversions were slotted by Menzies(5), Wilkinson (3) and McGee (1)
What followed was a Watford side determined to play their patterns and put West London to the sword. With the Watford centres causing the opposition problems at every opportunity, West London’s defence was creeping and pin pointing this area to push up hard. Returning skipper Bram identified this and stepped inside his opposite man and made a clean break only to be caught by a cover tackle. Support play was back on the agenda and James Powell put the gas on to try and catch up with ‘speedster’ Bram (running like a reversing dump truck with no tyres) and took the offload like a hero and ran in Watford’s second of the half and fourth of the afternoon giving Watford the bonus point. This seemed to relieve some pressure and Watford started to enjoy themselves and play the brand of rugby that is starting to become a regular feature. Finding themselves in the West London 22 again, an inside pass out of a tackle found Scott Menzies who was in bags of space to score his first of the game.
West London spent some time in the Watford half but some excellent defence was forcing them backwards time after time with Clenners, Gordon and Thibaut continuously putting their bodies on the line. A breakdown in our 22 saw West London show their frustration by retaliating to Watford’s resilience with some handbags and their full back ran a couple of laps around the pitch, through the clubhouse, down the road to the club Routley initially went to and back again to the breakdown to push a couple of Watford players and jump on them on the floor - he was given a deserved 10 minute break to recover from the distance he had to cover to get to the fracas. What followed was a Watford onslaught.
A few changes in the final 20 with Silver coming on at 9 and Georgio on at 6, moving Powelly to 7 and Dunlop to the front row giving Gordon and McGee a rest after solid shifts, gave Watford some fresh legs. The front five started dominating the breakdown and Paul Dunlop seemed like a pest possessed and was everywhere, making some big tackles and making some superb yards. His work rate was soon rewarded with a try following a bulldozing crash off Silver at 9 to go over the white wash. 2 minutes later, Menzies spotted some space behind and called for the chip over to the corner, Bram obliged and Menzies brilliantly finished it off. Again, with the pack managing to get quick ball at the break down, the Watford charge was becoming relentless and caused all sorts of problems for West London, who were now starting to leave gaps which were now being exploited, particularly by Dunlop who took a great line from Silver and broke through for his second. Watford were now permanently based in the West London half and kept throwing themselves at the home side. With 2 minutes to go and having played some solid phases 5m from halfway, Hancock took a crash line from Silver and just before contact brilliantly offloaded a short, flat, tip pass to Dunlop who broke through the defence, stepped the naughty fullback and went over for his hat-trick rounding off a man of the match performance and much improved second half. Final score West London 10 - 63 Watford.

In what was a physical encounter and two very different styles of rugby, Watford showed that when they stick to their game plan and patterns they can be ruthless and play some great rugby. However, we need to improve our discipline in terms of how we play and trust our game plan and patterns if we are going to be where we want to be come the end of the season.