Rochford 66 Harlow 5

London Three North East League

Rochford are eight points clear at the top of the league and almost certain to clinch promotion. With several key players missing Harlow were always going to find this game hard. The loss of their fly half James McFerran after 20 minutes added to their problems. Will Grimley move in from the wing to cover the No 10 slot and Adam Mills came on to cover the wing slot. However it left Harlow with a backs line up that had never played together before and against a side who were fast and with superb ball skills it was going to be difficult. When in possession Harlow performed reasonable but their lack of experience working together as a unit made them very vulnerable as a unit.  The Rochford three quarters well supported by their fast mobile back row took full advantage.

Harlow conceded a penalty in the first two minutes but then for most of the first quarter pressured Rochford forcing them to defend in their own 22. On two attacks Vanbeck was held up just short of the line and on another Eynon almost got over mid field on crash ball. However the home side moved to an 11 point lead with a try and a second penalty largely against the run of the play. In the second quarter they then cut loose leaving Harlow to defend against string running attacks ball in hand. The result was three more tries on converted to give them a 28 – 0 lead at half time.  

In the opening five minutes of the second half Rochford ruled out any chance of a Harlow comeback with two converted tries for a 42 – 0 lead. Harlow rather than admit defeat fought back strongly for the next fifteen minutes and put a lot of pressure on Rochford. They played to their strengths keeping the ball much more with the forwards but at the start of the last quarter the home side ran in two unconverted tries in as many minutes to take the score to 52 – 0. Almost immediately they tried to launch another running move but Harlow skipper Eynon playing at No. 8 read the move and intercepted the pass just inside the Harlow half. He sprinted sixty yards down the wing outpacing two defenders for a try in the corner. In the last ten minutes Rochford hit back with two more converted tries for a 66 – 5 final scoreline.

This Saturday Harlow are at home to Braintree for the league game that was cancelled on the 14^th Feb. Although not as strong as Rochford they are performing well mid table and will be a tough proposition. Again they have some fast backs who will test the Harlow defence.

Tries: Paul Eynon

Team List

1 -  James Ephgrave   

2 -  Stuart Wilkins
3 -  Paul Prindiville  (Sub 55 mins Tom Webb)
4 -  Darren Hawkins  
5 -  Mark Twiner 
6 -  Mark Bowering (Sub 45 mins Sam Cootes)  
7 -  Shaun Roberts
8 -  Paul Eynon

9 -  Charlie Woodington

10 - James McFerran (Sub 10 mins Adam Mills)

11 - Will Grimley
12 - Gareth Powell  

13 - Luke Bowering  
14 - Simon Vanbeck
15 - Chris Webb

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