Harlow 30 Mersea Island 15

(Half time 22 - 10)

London Three North East League

The Rams returned to winning ways with a much needed and well deserved victory at Ram Gorse on Saturday afternoon. They completely outplayed their opponents for the first twenty five minutes and raced to a 22-0 lead.

Inspired by scrum half Lee Harron they dominated the game for long periods and the Harlow pack under Skipper Paul Eynon controlled the set pieces throughout the match.

It was from a scrummage three minutes into the game that Harron put in a box kick which  put the Mersea full,back under pressure.  The result, a five metre line out to Harlow and the pack drove for the line with prop Paul Prindiville touching down. Fly half James McFerran was successful with a difficult conversion , his kicking throughout on target.

Two minutes later another line out in the Mersea half saw the ball moved along the line with McFerran looping round to take Woodington’s pass and score in the corner.

A third try came on 15 minutes. This time it was a speculative kick from McFerran which caused the Mersea winger to fumble the ball which spun over the try line. Harlow winger Chris Webb has followed up and dived on the ball to score. McFerran added the conversion. The Rams continued to press forward and won a penalty forty metres out which McFerran converted to give them  22-0 lead.

The last ten minutes of the half belonged to the visitors as Harlow allowed their grip on the game to slip. Indiscipline cost Harlow points as Mersea took a tap penalty and forced their way over the line. This try was converted and followed by a successful penalty goal on the stroke of half time.

Flanker Lee Covington gave way to Adam Paine at the beginning of the second half.

The additional power in the Harlow pack allowed them to dominate the scrummages and starve the visitors of decent possession. With Hawkins and Twiner winning everything in the line outs Harlow had a great deal of ball.

From a scrummage ten minutes into the second period Harlow scored again. From a position  just inside the Mersea half they went down the blind side and winger Will Grimley , who had replaced Woodington, exchanged passes with Eynon who broke clear to score out wide.

Mersea continued to threaten, keeping the ball away from the Harlow,pack but the Rams’three quarters kept them out. With ten minutes to go they pulled the Harlow defence into the mid field and their winger scored in the corner.

However it was the Rams who had the last word, another superb  McFerran penalty sailed over, bringing his personal contribution for the match to 14 points.

Harlow thus leapfrog over Mersea to third from bottom and go into the second half of the league programme with a good win under their belts.

Next week Harlow travel to Colchester for the fourth round of the EDF intermediate cup. They will have to be at their best against a Colchester side who are on top of their league , one level below Harlow.

Tries: Paul Prindiville, James McFerran, Chris Webb, Paul Eynon

Conversions:  James McFerran (2)

Penalties: James McFerran (2)

Team List

1 -  Tom Webb  

2 -  Stuart Wilkins
3 -  Paul Prindiville (Sub 55 mins Matt Branch )

4 -  Darren Hawkins
5 -  Mark Twiner 

6 -  Shaun Roberts 
7 -  Lee Covington (Sub 40 mins  Adam Paine)

8 -  Paul Eynon

9 -  Lee Harron

10 - James McFerran

11 - Chris Webb
12 - Gareth Powell  

13 - Simon Vanbeck  
14 - Charlie Woodington (Sub 50 mins  Will Grimley)

15 - Sean Banks

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