Play Together, Stay Together at Feltham RFC
Feltham scored eight tries to beat Old Caterhamians IIs at Hanworth Park.
The fixture was live streamed on England Rugby’s YouTube channel as part of the Play Together, Stay Together campaign which shines a light on grassroots rugby and encourages clubs to regularly recruit and retain players.
Feltham were chosen to receive this treatment due to their work rebuilding their playing squad and in recognition of the exceptional feedback they received from referees, as well as their charity work.
The game was enjoyed by many spectators at Hanworth Park, with former player Julio Gomez flying over from Texas to attend the game.
"I saw a post on our Facebook page and thought this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to enjoy a weekend of rugby with the RFU and the commentators," he added. "It’s really cool. I played at Feltham for several years and it really is like a family."
Feltham struck inside the opening four minutes, as wing Rhodri Edwards carved through the Old Cats defence off the back of a strike move that saw fly-half Keiran Hales dummy switch with his inside centre before putting Edwards through the gap and under the sticks.
Old Cats exerted plenty of pressure onto the hosts, forcing several penalties in the first 20 minutes, but with a stuttering line-out failed to convert pressure into points.
Feltham’s second score came from a break from inside their own half. Despite being scrummaged off their own ball they retained possession and broke into Old Cats territory courtesy of Glynn Mannes.
He was brought down just before the 22, before some neat offloading saw the ball back in the hands of winger Mannes to dot down in the corner. Hales added the extras from the touchline to make it 12-0 after 25 minutes.
Old Cats, who had a man advantage after Keiran Hales was shown a yellow card in the 31st minute, suffered a blow towards the end of the first half. After dominating the set piece, prop Luke Hadley sustained a thumb injury and had to go off which led to uncontested scrums for the remainder of the game.
Feltham’s third try came just before half time. After collecting a lineout inside Old Cats’ 22, captain Joel O’Hare peeled off the back of the maul and pierced the line. The ball was recycled quickly into the hands of full back Dan Gregory, who lifted an offload into the path of flanker Ryan Bennett to score. Gregory’s conversion made it 19-0.
Feltham’s fourth came through 22-year-old Benji Speirs, whilst O’Hare bagged the next two to open up a commanding lead.
The try of the game came from outside centre Joe Hales on the hour mark. His brother Keiran made a break down the middle of the field before being brought down just outside the Old Cats’ 22. The ball was recycled and passed to Edwards, who made a smart offload to Hales, who skipped through multiple tackles to score.
Feltham wing Edwards finished the match with his second score as the Old Cats’ defence was stretched before a sublime looping pass from second row Croucher put him in the corner. Old Cats’ only points came via the boot of Ethan Wood just before the final whistle to make the final score 50-3.
“Today has been amazing,” said Player of the Match O’Hare. “We struggled with discipline at first – I think the cameras got the better of us, but we pulled together in the end.”
“I’ve played at the club for fifteen years, but this is my first as captain. I’ve thrown more passes this season than I have in my career.”
Old Caterhamians had plenty to be proud of in the game, particularly as they had several players pull out at the last minute due to work commitments with the police. Nevertheless, the team travelled across to fulfil the fixture and were lent players from the opposition to get the game played.
