Harlow 14 Sudbury 6 

(Half time 6 - 6)

London Three North East League

Harlow tightened their defence and played with great commitment to take the points against mid-table Sudbury on Saturday. The game started badly for Harlow when their high scoring fly half Paul Humphries went down with a suspected neck injury. The referee realized that in such cases every care must be taken and therefore first postponed play and then moved the game to another pitch while paramedics attended to Humphries. Harlow moved McFerran the centre to fly half, Will Grimly moved to centre and veteran Matt Howard came onto the wing.

Sudbury playing downhill put a lot of pressure on the Harlow line and forced a penalty converted for a 3 point lead. Three minutes later Harlow made their first intrusion into the Sudbury half and the visitors conceded a penalty for killing the ball. McFerran slotted to level the scores. For the next fifteen minutes Harlow were forced to defend against a series of Sudbury attacks taking advantage of the steeper slope on the second pitch. The improvement in defence was noticeable however with the pack holding their own against the heavier Sudbury squad and when a breakthrough came the backs were prepared to make full use of their pace to cut it off. Rob Mackie at fullback covered well and was safe with his clearance kicking.  On 25 minutes Harlow once again made a good break into the Sudbury 22 only to have the ball killed when within try range. McFerran was again on target for a 6 – 3 lead to Harlow. Almost immediately Sudbury had a chance to level the score but their kicker, the scrum half Wooderson was wide. Two minutes later however he was on target to make it 6 points all. He had two more chances in the closing minutes of the half but was wide with both and the half ended all square.

With Humphries having been moved to hospital the second half resumed on the first team pitch with Harlow now having the advantage of the slope. The pattern of the half emerged early with accurate touch kicking by McFerran frequently finding the corners and forcing the visitors to defend in their own half. Skipper Eynon at No.8 was able to make hard yards on the pick up with second row Hawkins and flanker Barnard also dangerous in attack. On 55 minutes McFerran had a penalty chance into the wind but the ball did not quite carry and then seven minutes later Harlow prop McKinley was yellow carded for taking out a player without the ball in what was as much a collision as in intentional action. For the ten minutes he was off replacement prop Rob Treamer replaced flanker Mark Bowering so that Harlow could field a legal front row. Sudbury made a couple of breaks up field from their backs but they did little more than ship the ball along the line and were safely taken out by the Harlow three quarters. Almost immediately after McKinley returned to the field the Sudbury fly half was carded for persistently killing the ball. The referee had issued several warnings and he was the next player to offend. McFerran slotted the kick for a 9 – 6 lead. Harlow brought on Shaun Roberts as a replacement for blind side flanker Barnard who had played with distinction in a hard forward encounter. In the final ten minutes Harlow played with great commitment to defend their slender lead and then with two minutes to go the forwards came away with the ball and lock Adam Paine charged for the line brushing off one defender and bouncing a second to make the touch down for his first league try for the first XV.

This puts Harlow in 9^th place on six in a league that is exceptionally close with only four points separating 11 of the 12 teams after six games have been played. Next weekend they are away to Romford also on six points but with a much better points difference. The defensive battle could again be critical.

Later on Saturday evening Harlow received the good news that Paul Humphries had been discharged from hospital. He has a whiplash injury as a result of an accidental knee in the face. Painful, but fortunately not the serious injury which looked possible at one stage. He will be out of action for a couple of weeks or so.

Tries: Adam Paine

Conversions:  

Penalties: James McFerran (3)

Team List

1 -  Ricky Mckinley 

2 -  Stuart Wilkins
3 -  Tom Webb  
4 -  Adam Paine
5 -  Darren Hawkins
6 -  Hans Barnard (Sub 70 mins Shaun Roberts )
7 -  Mark Bowering (Sub 60 mins to 70 mins Rob Treamer )
8 -  Paul Eynon

9 -  Lee Harron

10 - Paul Humpries (Sub 5 mins Matt Howard)
11 - Russ James
12 - Gareth Powell

13 - James McFerran
14 - Luke Bowering
15 - Rob Mackie  

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