League leaders Hammersmith and Fulham were this week’s opponents at Coningesby Drive, thankfully one of the five pitches was playable following a very wet week and Fullers were looking to bounce back from last weeks defeat to 2nd placed Old Priorians.

The game got underway with
skipper Ben Matchett lofting the ball high in the air for the charging Fullerians players to chase and there was a sense of very competitive rugby sue with war like cries straight from the kick off.

A cagey first ten minutes saw the visitors with most of the possession and Fullers producing some brilliant defence until H&F worked the ball quickly out wide and then back inside and their big second rower steamrolled the remaining defender to score, a simple conversion followed to give them a 0-7 lead after 13 minutes.

Fullers didn’t have to wait long before they got on the scoresheet, yet another dominant scrum pushed H&F back deep in their 22 allowed Matchett to push the ball inside to the centres and a little bit of crash ball followed by a sublime offload from fullback Sam Harrison to winger Ryan Lewis who dotted down in the far left corner, Matchett couldn’t quite make the conversion from the difficult angle, 18 minutes gone score 5-7 and that’s where it stayed for the rest of the game.

As the heavens opened again it was discipline that got the better of both sides in the second half with the visitors down to 14 following some foul play and again 15 minutes another yellow to their replacement prop which meant a period of uncontested scrums which really took the sting out of Fullerians dominance just like it did earlier in the season in very similar circumstances when Old Priorians played here.

The soon to be champions were rocked and Fullers kept the pressure on and couldn’t find a way round the excellent defence H&F were putting up.

In the closing minutes replacement back row Andrew Murray was carded for foul language however Fullerians did have the chance to win it with another penalty awarded 30 metres out, the crowd respectively quietened and Matchett stepped up and agonisingly pulled the kick wide to the right hand side of the post, H&F breathed a huge sigh of relief as they knew they wouldn’t be able to come back from that had it gone over.

Next week Fullers travel to south west London when the face London Cornish.

Gary Wall man of the Match - Jack Hobbs