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Harlow 25 Rochford 14
London Three North East
Harlow kept their league challenge on track on Saturday with a workmanlike win over fifth-placed Rochford. When taking into account the fact that the visitors beat Romford the previous week knocking them down from 3rd to 4th place and that they have had good results against a number of other competent sides then this is a good outcome for Harlow. Its importance is all the greater because all the leading sides won it on Saturday in games going on the basis of league position. Perhaps the best news is that Harlow outscored their opponents by three tries to one and particularly in the final quarter had several attacking moves from their backs which came very close to another score. Harlow started well playing up the slope and within a few minutes had taken play into the Rochford half. With the slope and wind in their favour Rochford opted to kick the ball frequently down field. Whenever their kicks did not make touch however Harlow counter-attack strongly. A good link-up between forwards and backs saw Scott Stoba playing at No. 6 break for the line to be stopped about five yards short. Harron recycled quickly and tried to launch his backs but play was stopped in midfield. From the next breakdown prop Gary Brown showed just how dangerous he is on crash ball committing three defenders before he was stopped. The visitors got back into the game making a long touch down field and for period off 10 minutes Harlow had to defend strongly close to their try-line. Good tackling particularly by their back row of Pickett, Claridge and Stoba supported by Bohl and Jarvis at centre kept the visitors out and eventually a rucking infringement gave Harlow a penalty allowing them to clear up to halfway. A further good attack moving the ball wide through the backs allowed Harlow to get within about 30 metres of the try line before Rochford infringed at the ruck giving fly half Nick Ford a safe penalty and Harlow a three-point lead. From the restart Rochford continued to use this strategy of kicking down deep into the Harlow half and from one such attack a Harlow infringement allowed them a penalty from which they levelled the score at three points all. In the latter stages of the first half Harlow got back onto the attack ran into stubborn defensive tackling by Rochford although managing to force penalty just inside the Harlow half. Despite a slippery surface and a difficult crosswind Ford slotted a 42 yard kick to give Harlow a six points to three lead at half-time. Having played up the slope and against the wind throughout they could be very satisfied to turn around in the lead. Harlow started the second half strongly kicking off deep down into the Rochford 22 and getting forwards there numbers to prevent the clearance. They continued to attack mixing the strategy well with scrum half Harron first moving the ball wide to give his backs chance to run at the opposition and then following this up by setting up the rolling mauls where forwards were making good territory. The only area where Rochford and were causing some difficulty was in the set scrums where their solid and probably slightly heavier pack prevented Harlow getting the quick ball that would have really allowed them to dominate. On 50 minutes an attack about five minutes later saw Vanbeck sprinting for the line; the final pass about 15 yards out was judged to be slightly forward. The referee had however been playing advantage and took play across to the far side of the field to offer Harlow a penalty. They opted to tap and run and the Harlow forwards drove to a good attacking position in midfield about 10 metres out from the Rochford try-line. As the ball came back to Harron he hesitated for second as if to launch another drive and then spotting the smallest of gaps in the defensive line decided to go alone and sprinted in for an excellent try under the posts; typical of the the style of play which has made him such a threat to opposing sides throughout his career. With the kick in front of the posts Ford had no problem and Harlow were leading by 13 – 3. Rochford however soon cut the margin with a well-taken penalty before Harlow were back onto the attack. Rochford were penalised for offside and Harron pushed the ball into touch about 10 yards short of the try-line. A clean catch by Snow allowed them to set up the rolling maul which initially moved sideways across the field with Rochford holding well but eventually Harlow managed to roll off and move close closer to the line. Their momentum took them over and Scott Romaine the Harlow hooker in his familiar role in a maul as ball-carrier touched down for the try. At 18 - 6 the game was looking far more promising from a Harlow perspective. With the ball moved wide to Vanbeck on the left wing they almost broke the defence before the final defender managed to get hand on and bring him down to earth. Rochford however had other ideas and launched an number of good attacks up field. Until then the Harlow tackling had been extremely good but on this occasion two tackles were missed in the play in midfield allowing the visitors to get close to the Harlow 22 and from a re-launched attack to run in a try close to the corner. The conversion attempt was online but did not carry. The setbacks for Harlow continued when five minutes later they conceded a further penalty allowing Rochford to take the score to see 18 points to 14. For just the shortest of periods it looked as though Harlow were letting the game slip away but they counter-attack strongly with Harron now making much more use of his backs. Overall Harlow had more pace than the visitors in the back division and whereas Rochford had been attacking by simply moving the ball down the line Harlow showed much more imagination in terms of miss and switch moves midfield. Inevitably some of these did not quite work with ball going to ground but then as Harlow were attacking on the left wing Harron suddenly cleaned up loose ball and switched direction the ball passing right the way across the field through the entire three-quarter line before full-back Brown came in to make the extra man he took the pass and committed the last defender before feeding out to Matt Howard on the wing who sprinted in for the try close to the corner. Far too quick for the Rochford defence who were trying to get across to cover. Ford was on target with another difficult kick from close to the touchline giving Harlow a 25 to 14 lead. In the closing 10 minutes play was all going in the Harlow direction with further good attacking moves by both backs and forwards. The final move of the game saw Howard attacking down the wing putting an excellent chip kick in over his opposite number taking the ball into the in-goal area with both attacker and defender sprinting for the touch down. The consensus of spectators close to the situation was that Howard won the race and got the touchdown for the try but unfortunately the referee was unsighted and with time expended blew for the end of the game.With all games going to form this leaves Harlow in second place in the league. It does however mean that they have a sufficient points margin that the challenge for the promotion places is now down to a four-horse race between leaders Bury St Edmunds, Harlow in second with Brentwood and Romford having outside chance if one of the first two come unstuck badly. Next weekend Harlow are away to Westcliff who despite their lowly position in the league have achieved one of two upsets during the season. Harlow will again have to be totally committed in order to take the points in this game particularly given that they have to meet leaders Bury and also Ipswich, who are performing well mid-table, before the end of the season. Tries: Scott Romaine, Lee Harron, Matt Howard Conversions: Nick Ford (2) Penalties: Nick Ford (2) 1. - Gary Brown (Sub Paul Prindiville 70 mins) 2. - Scott Romaine 3. - James Ephgrave 4. - Jon Snow 5. - Paul Eynon (Sub Darran Hawkins 60 mins) 6. - Scott Stoba 7. - Mark Pickett 8. - Kain Claridge 9. - Lee Harron (Captain) 10. - Nick Ford 11. - Simon Vanbeck 12. - Josh Bohl (Sub Billy Stanley 65 mins) 13. - Ben Jarvis 14. - Matt Howard 15. - Francis Brown
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