Harlow 20 Colchester 15

London League Division Two North East

16th January 2010

The snow thawed just in time for Harlow to entertain Colchester on Saturday. The visitors arrived as the fourth placed team in the league for what was expected to be a very demanding encounter for the Rams. The outcome can be regarded as one of the major upsets in the league this season, Harlow adapted their play to take account of the wet and greasy conditions and above all played with great determination, determined to wipe out memories of the heavy defeat they suffered in the away leg of this fixture.

Harlow started very strongly, taking the visitors by surprise. They drove up into the Colchester 22 and the forwards set up a series of Rucks taking the ball through four phases before scrum half Lee Harron picked up from the back of a ruck just yards short of the try line and drove through the defence for the touchdown. Two minutes gone and Harlow were five points in the lead! From the restart Colchester launched a determined attack using their backs where, according to the form book, they had a clear advantage in terms of speed. However they ran into some very determined pressure from the Harlow backs and a rush to pass allowed Harlow winger Rob Mackie to intercept at pace running 30 yards to cross the try line near the corner but then cutting in towards the posts, scoring the try and allowing fly half Michael Dobson a safe kick at goal to take the lead to 12 points. Twelve minutes into the half the Colchester number 6 Ollie Watson took out Lee Harron in an off the ball incident. Harron was deemed to have retaliated and the outcome was yellow cards for both players. Three minutes later Harlow consolidated to their lead when Dobson put over an excellent penalty from the Harlow 10 metre line. Play continued with Harlow making good use of the ruck and maul to keep the game tight and minimize the danger from the visitors’ backs. It wasn’t until 35 minutes that they had an opportunity to score when Harlow were penalised for killing the ball in the ruck. Their centre Jack Wiggins slotted the penalty cutting the margin to 15 points to three. From the restart Harlow took possession well inside the visitors half and the forwards retained possession for two or more phases of play before fly half Dobson realized that the Colchester backs had drifted infield and therefore put out a long miss pass to Daniel Hockley on the wing, who sprinted through brushing off his opposite number to touch down in the corner. Right on the point of halftime Colchester hit back with another penalty from Wiggins but Harlow were very pleased to turn around with a 20 points to six lead.

Now they were playing up the slope it was going to be a much harder challenge for Harlow. They continued their strategy of making good use of the ruck and maul and wherever possible using a well placed tactical kick to keep play he up in the Colchester half. Several minutes into the half Harlow face to setback when prop Mark Williams was yellow carded. In order to have a front row for the scrums they were forced to bring on replacement prop Matt Branch replacing flanker Mark Bowering. They held out well however for the 10 minutes they were a man short only conceding one penalty. They opted to continue with Matt Branch at prop and at the end of the 10 minutes brought back Mark Bowering. The struggle continued with Harlow still concentrating on driving ball went in the Rucks. There were several occasions where the pickup, 2 yard drive before going to ground and resetting the ball went through seven or more phases. Is a credit to the Harlow defence that when Colchester were awarded penalties in the 63rd and 70th minute on both occasions they chose to kick for goal despite the fact that if they were to steal the game they needed more points. Now with the score at 20 points to 15 and 10 minutes to go the game developed into a very intense climax. Colchester threw everything into the attack but despite the fatigue from a very tough game Harlow continued to tackle strongly. Finally with 2 minutes to go they conceded another penalty. With a 5 point deficit and the clock running down a kick for goal was not an option for Colchester and they were forced to put the ball in touch just short of the Harlow try line. They took the ball cleanly from the throw but were met by a determined Harlow pack who held them off until pressure was relieved when the Colchester player was penalised for obstruction. Dobson kicked for a safe touch just outside the Harlow 22. Harlow took the ball cleanly from the throw and knowing that time had expired Harron immediately took the pass and kicked the ball back into touch by the end of the game.

This result, very much against the odds, is a massive boost to Harlow’s league campaign. Next Saturday they are away to Chelmsford for the first of four games against clubs at the bottom of the table. If they can take the points from at least three of these games then they would be virtually clear of any relegation danger and possibly would have a chance of a respectable mid table finish. They must not however underrate Chelmsford who came within two points of beating a much stronger Sudbury side last Saturday.

Tries: Lee Harron, Rob Mackie, Dan Hockley

Conversions:  Michael Dobson

Penalties: Michael Dobson

Team List

1 -  Paul Prindiville

2 -  Scott Romaine (Captain)
3 -  Marc Williams (Sub Matt Branch 55 mins)

4 -  Terry Blackwell  
5 -  Kerry Palmer 

6 -  Shaun Roberts (Sub Stuart Wilkins 70 mins) 
7 -  Mark Bowering

8 -  Kain Claridge
9 -  Lee Harron
10 - Michael Dobson

11 - Rob Mackie
12 - James McFerran
13 - Luke Bowering

14 - Dan Hockley

15 - Frances Brown

To Return to Match Reports Click here