Handsworth RUFC
Handsworth 82 - 0 Hanford
Handsworth overtook joint league leaders Hanford on Saturday as they demolished their counterparts with a 15-try massacre to take top spot.
From the off Handsworth were raring to go and didn’t take long to establish their intent with a try on 3 minutes for winger Mike Weale his first of a splendid hat trick. His second was a virtual duplication of the first 5 minutes later as he went over in the left hand corner to score putting the hosts 10-0 up.
Spot kicker Weale usually has the kick of a mule and the precision of a sniper but his sights were slightly off target on Saturday as he only managed to bag 2 conversions from 13 attempts and a penalty. Most of the tries however were scored next to the corner flags making it more difficult. With the game looking like it was a forgone conclusion anyway skipper Phil Brooke continued with Weale and used the opportunity as kicking practice.
Next on the board was Carl Drummond on the opposite wing, who like Weale capitalised on superb forward dominance in both the set pieces and in the loose to go over in the corner.
On 20 minutes lock forward Richie Morgan thought it was about time the pack were granted a try and duly obliged. Some power play from the forwards allowed Morgan to nestle in amongst the backs up the blind and a short pass from Salter saw Morgan drive his way over from 5 metres.
With the ball flowing freely the Handsworth backs ran riot and had the Hanford three-quarters tied in knots. A succession of ruck play eventually liberated the ball down the right to Drummond on the wing who took the tackle and then popped the ball to Morris at full back to cruise in under the posts to score his first. Weale converted.
Hooker, Jon Doggett used his versatility to get on the score sheet as he added another man to the backs in the loose. With a series of scissors moves available to him Doggett arced his run and out-sprinted the visiting full back to score in the corner.
Hanford did little to pressure the Handsworth line but any attempt they did make was soon stifled as Handsworth set up another attack.
Handsworth's dominance up front starved Hanford of any good clean ball and on a few occasions Handsworth took the ball against the head in the scrum making for a very frustrating afternoon for the guest scrum half.
It was from one such moment when the home scrum half, Sid Salter, seized the chance to snipe around the fringe of a stolen scrum and shimmied his way through to score just before the stroke of half time.
With the scores at 40-0 at half time Handsworth were hungry for the "Big Ton" but knew that complacency mustn't creep in for this to happen.
Hanford started the second half a bit livelier than the first and almost scored a try but for a last ditch tap tackle from Morris taking out the hopeful fly half.
Form then on it was one-way traffic as Handsworth more than double their tally for the first half with a further 8 tries.
Morgan added another to his first half try as did Morris to extend the scores further.
Weale duly bought the jug when he notched up his 3rd of the day and a quick fire brace from Dave Slack bumped the score up past the 60 mark.
Centre Jamie Quinn was rewarded for shear persistence as he chased up a grub kick a full 60 yards before winning the race for the line to score.
Halftime saw a change on the wing with Anthony Robinson replacing Carl Drummond. This fresh pair of legs caused Hanford all kinds of trouble. Robinson ran the full length of the pitch only to have his effort ruled out for an alleged forward pass. But soon afterwards, and still out of breath from his previous effort, Robinson was called upon once again to run the gauntlet as he sprinted from inside his own half to score under the posts.
Flanker Ian Drummond, brother of winger Carl, sealed off a fine win for Handsworth as he carved through a discombobulated Hanford side to score under the posts.
Handsworth take a break from league action on Saturday as they play local rival Aldridge, kick off 3pm.
John Hadley's Handsworth 2xv also did the club proud with a fine 42-0 victory over Featherstone away.
The 3rds continued their impressive run of getting a side out, despite a murderous number of cry offs from the higher sides. It gave the emerging Colts a further taste of senior rugby under the careful scrutiny of some older (wiser ?? hardly!) heads.
Captain Dave Polson was upbeat despite the defeat, as his side was missing a couple of influential players that he felt would have helped gel the whole team together; none the less, he was very proud of the commitment shown by the players.
The Great Barr/Walsall-based rugby club are flying at the moment but are always on the lookout for new talent. Handsworth regularly field 3 sides on a Saturday so there's a team out there for all abilities.
Training is on Wednesdays at 7.15pm and all are welcome.
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