Harlequin Amateurs lose to Mill Hill at death

By Hillary Carr
October 14 2005

The Harlequin Amateurs management team must be considering registering the side for charity status as they gave away a significant 21-7 lead against Mill Hill last weekend (8th October), to eventually be on the wrong end of a 24-21 scoreline in their Herts and Middlesex Division One league match.

The fashion in which Mill Hill won the contest from a penalty kick right at the end was bizarre in itself.

The game was tied with a minute left on the clock when a very dubious judgement by the linesman forced a lineout, at which Quins conceded a penalty just outside their own twenty-two. The first attempt failed and would have resulted in a draw, but the referee called for the penalty to be retaken as Quins winger Matt Williams charged the kick down. The second attempt was successful and there was no time to restart the game.

The Amateurs had started slightly the stronger side and edged into a lead after 15 minutes thanks to a penalty from captain Ross Webster. However, the Mill Hill pack was well-drilled in tight play and used their strength and prowess to force a try when the ball was recycled from the maul to dive over the line.

Disaster then struck when Webster was carried off having sustained a fractured ankle and was replaced by Donald Baines at fly half. Quins kept applying the pressure on the opposition that resulted in the Mill Hill prop being sin-binned.

During his absence, Baines edged the Amateurs back in front with two successful penalties and a conversion after Dave Schneider kicked a loose ball through, before picking up possession and claiming the try. With the score at 16-7 to the Amateurs at half-time, the omens looked good for Quins.

Quins immediately increased their lead to 21-7 from the restart when Nick Wilcox caught the ball and slipped it to Schneider, who side-stepped through the entire Mill Hill defence to score in the left hand corner.

Mill Hill rallied and through their substantial driving efforts from the pack forced a try from open play down the left flank, which they converted. Quins then suffered their second injury blow as Dan Camacho was taken off with a damaged shoulder. The visitors redoubled their efforts and scored a second converted try from open play to level the score at 21-all.

It all looked like it was heading for an unsatisfactory draw, when the final insult was added to the injuries following Mill Hill’s successful penalty from the last kick of the game.

Final score, 21-24.

Harlequin Amateurs XV: 1. Rose, 2. Glanville, 3. Pitt, 4. Wall, 5. Knowles, 6. Camacho, 7. Schneider, 8. Wilcox, 9. Hugall, 10. Webster (Capt.), 11. Williams, 12. Hurst, 13. Birbeck, 14. Fretwell, 15. Ah-Sun

Replacements: 16. Baines, 17. Fairweather, 18. Thompson

Scorers:
Tries: Schneider (2)
Conversion: Baines
Penalties: Webster, Baines (2).

Harlequin Amateurs are grateful for the sponsorship and support of PSL, Telcap, Hero and HOPA members.