Winning Run ended by Physical Hollowegians

However the mood before the game was that they wouldn’t be taken lightly.

No. 8 Damien Kellerman took over the captaincy from the injured centre James Blatherwick as Haslemere looked to make a error-free, fast start to the game.

From the kick-off both teams seemed to want play running rugby and shared the possession for most of the first 15 minutes. There were a number of notable carries into the Egham half by the Haslemere forwards notable No. 8 Damien Kellerman and Flankers Ryan Perrott & Shane Vickery which led to a Haslemere Penalty and a 3-0 lead after just 15 minutes. There was an early substitution with Hooker Glyn Hogsden being replaced by Adam Whitehead with the determined Ryan Perrott moving to the front row.

Haslemere continued to pressure the Egham defensive line throughout the half with some great link up play which led to Haslemere’s second penalty and Callum Sherwood’s second successful conversion. 6-0 Haslemere.

It was to be indiscipline that was to stop ‘Mere’s progress in its tracks when it seemed they were beginning to gain the upperhand some great advances notably from the scrum with Damien Kellerman continually picking the ball up from the base and getting over the gain line with Second Rows Dave Head and Chris McGrory in close support. Haslemere continued to be drawn into the scrappy, physical Egham style of play and as a result of a number of closely fought rucks No.12 James Clarke was sin-binned for retalation and Mere were down to 14 for the rest of the half. Errors were also starting to creep into the Haslemere attack with some misplaced passes and a few handling errors leading to Egham ultimately going into Half-Time all square at 6-6.

The second half saw the introduction of Zaren Hawkes at loose-head prop and Dan Green (Bristol) moving to flanker. Haslemere started the 2nd half well and after some good work from the forward pack including some great carries by Matthieu Clet and Zaren Hawkes Egham were twice pushed back 10 yards for infringements at the ruck. Haslemere took a quick penalty and after getting the ball through the line flanker Dan Green after bursting through a number of Egham defenders crossed over underneath the posts. 11-6 Haslemere. No.10 Callum Sherwood converted to give ‘Mere a 13-6 lead after 50 minutes.

However, Haslemere were still in being drawn into the physical tactics from the Egham pack at every breakdown and as a result were made to pay for not keeping hold of the ball when Egham crossed over for a try. Egham missed the resulting conversion to make the score 13-11 on the hour mark.

Haslemere continued to dominate the possession with some great work at both scrum from the front row replacement Zaren Hawkes and line-out with Second Row Dave head providing Haslemere with a platform from which to work the ball out to the backs. However after a short while, No 6 Shane Vickery was shown a yellow card for violent conduct after a number of Haslemere players felt the physicality of Egham pack was again not quite what it should be.

Egham continued to pressure the Haslemere defence and with 10 minutes to go crossed for what would be the penultimate score of the game 16-13. The game was to finish with Egham camped in the Haslemere 22 and although Haslemere were defending well with a number of great defensive scrums, Egham were awarded a penalty and duly made it 19-13.

This weekend Haslemere face the second round/quarter final of the Incentive FM Surrey Bowl at Worth Old Boys, Saturday 1st Feb 14:15ko