New Year / Same Fins'

A new year! And with that what seemed like a whole new second team for the Mighty Fins in terms of attitude and determination as we geared up for our first game of 2019 against Hendon RFC; a team who marginally beat us early into the first half of this season.
Clearly under no circumstances were we prepared to accept such a defeat again as the best team of this year (so far!) converged in full force, AND in good time, upon Hendon’s grounds ready to smash any trace of their previous win off the pitch.
Well, when I say full force, I am of course excluding our fearless glass ankle-d captain Nick Tewson who managed to lose not one but two Waldo’s along the way. In the end it wasn’t necessary to ask my son to help Mr Tewson find him as they still arrived 30 minutes before this glorious match was set to begin.
2pm – Kick-Off! Some fantastic offensive attempts from the backs and defensive play from the forwards, big hits form the ever reliable second row dream team of Aaron Carter and Rob Simpson, not forgetting our 3rd second row on the pitch, moonlighting number 8 Tom Coates, as well as some troublesome runs from Victor Sanchez-Tarre and Toby Birkett. Yet it was 15 minutes until the points were awarded, with Finsbury conceding the first try… but the conversion, luckily for the Fins hit the crossbar keeping the score at 50-.
Less than 10 minutes onwards, the warriors in Green and Yellow answered with some superb backs play from John Portsmouth, James Pattison and Nick Tewson to link up with winger Tristan Russel who cut through the opposition D like a hot knife through butter to score our first try and even the score! This great phase of pay was then complemented by a conversion from the skipper.
Whatever the pep-talk given by the Hendon captain was after conceding, it was clearly outshone by the one delivered from our monstrous prop Alex Thomas as two minutes after play resumed, Danny Ray Griffiths laid his mark on the game with a pressured try-scoring run off an excellent short pass from Salvador Peya.
The remaining 10 minutes of the first half consisted of Hendon desperately attempting to gain some traction back, happily to no avail! The Mighty Fins’ were holding their defensive line and smashing offensives like Spartans facing the Persian hordes. Most notable hits came from Alex Wood and Alex Cotton, who unfortunately did injure himself in the process… what a sacrifice for the team. Hope that shoulder gets well soon bud!
The beginning of the second half some new faces were the colours of the best club in the borough of Harringey (in case you were wondering, yes that was a dig!) with Alex Moran and Waldon Alejandro Castillo Cennerazzo playing their debuts for the team, both of whom impressed with fantastic work rate and carries. There were two more debutants, and don’t worry, you’re coming up soon enough!
Anyway, the second half also laid the stage for the grand return of Rich Handley, who suffered a light brush to the chest 5 months prior. His highlights included being caught out of position, found wanting of a little pace, and making the odd try saving tackle.
Spurred on by our dominance in the first half, the second haf would follow a similar pattern, but with one key difference – SPOILER – only FPRFC would be putting the points on the board.
15mins in, following a box-kick from James Pattison, Toby Birkett raced up the pitch in his grey hound out of the traps fashion, to make a superb and very tricky catch off the deviously bouncing ball… unfortunately he then tripped himself up going from greyhound to baby giraffe in an instant.
However, this was of no consequence as Finsbury Park were ready with the next offensive wave, and moments later, thanks to a phenomenal wide pass and play between Pattison and Bertrand Debeuf, John Portsmouth scored the first try of the half.
Within 10 minutes of play resuming, the Fins had smashed Hendon down again thanks to our third debutant, Joshua Tysseling weaving his way through the defensive lines to score the fourth try of the game. It was at this point that Hendon appeared to find a second breath and hit back at us with a vengeance… it was also at this point that Alex Wood, Mike Godfrey and Danny Ray Griffiths began to play for the side in black. Their presence rallied the rest of the time to try and break through our lines and claw back some respectability to the score line; but this was quickly quelled by two bone crunching dump tackles form John Musson and Portsmouth, who crumbled their opponents like an earthquake.
The final try came moments later as a result of Victor Sanchez Tarre and a typically great carry, resulting in the Fins 24 points up at the final whistle. Full Time – Fins 29 – 5 Hendon.
MOTM – John Portsmouth for his stellar play throughout the match, both defensively and offensively.
DOTD – who other than Nick Tewson, for a spectacular penalty kick which flew behind him… and, most notably, a bullet pass into the face of our fourth debutant, and newest addition to the front row fraternity – Connor Gantly.
An absolutely phenomenal performance by the 2s, overall and one we hope to see repeated in the coming matches. Next up – Royston

PS - big shout out to match day fan - Graham Rutherford. Without him, there is quite a lot of doubt as to whether this report would have contained a comprehensive list of all try scorers! Cheers!