Mersea Island 10 Harlow 0

London League Division Two North East

14th November 2009

This was a game played in atrocious weather conditions, gale force wins and intermittent rain. Effective handling rugby was virtually impossible as passes of anything more than a very modest distance were simply swept off line by the wind. It was a day when the only way to play the game was to keep the ball in hand and play very tight rugby using the forwards in short stabbing drives. Almost any attempt to move the ball to the backs lead to a mistake and the loss of possession. The home side with a heavier and probably more experienced pack were better suited to the conditions and to be fair to them they certainly are adapted much better.

Mersea started quicker and took play it rapidly into the Harlow half immediately from the kick off. Within the first 5 minutes they managed to offload the ball to scrum-half Jon Williams who slipped two tackles and cut in close to the posts for a try. Kicking well in the difficult wind he converted for a 7 point lead. With the wind in their favour the home side continued to have most of the territory and Harlow were forced to defend against a non stop series of drives by the Mersea forwards. Playing against the wind Harlow could do little except keep the ball tight, even kicking for clearance was a high risk strategy although to be fair or Brown at fullback did better than most managing to keep the ball relatively low in the kick to minimize the wind efect and make some useful clearances. On 35 minutes Harlow conceded a penalty in midfield and about 30 yards out and Williams slotted the kick for a ten point lead. Towards the end of the half Harlow had a good period of attack using the driving maul close to the Mersea try line. They went through five good phases of play before a handling error allowed Mersea to take cleanly from the scrum and, making very good use of the strong wind, clear downfield.

The game restarted with Mersea now facing the wind and an determined to control possession to hang on to their slim lead. Harlow suffered a major setback when scrum half Lee Harron was forced to come off with a serious rib injury off. Although Charlie Woodington who came on as replacement scrum half did well under the conditions the Rams seriously missed Harons ability to pounce on opposition mistakes and exploit them. Harlow had one good attacking opportunity when Kain Claridge broke with ball in hand and made 50 yards before he was stopped about 8 yards short of the try line. The Harlow support runners attempted to take the ball on the Mersea were able to close them down and clear. For the first 50 minutes Harlow had one area of success, that of taking clean ball from the line out and following up with a rolling maul. However an injury to their specialist lineout jumper Darren Hawkins reduced the effectiveness of this strategy. Although in the final 20 minutes fly half Michael Dobson exploited the window very well to make some massive clearances to touch deep into the Mersea half the loss of Harlow line out dominance meant that they were not able to take full advantage. The home side closed down the game and held out for their first win of the season.

There are now three more league weekend ints to complete the first half of the league season. Harlow have to face of league leaders Thurrock, still undefeated, second placed Braintree and fifth placed Sudbury. It will be a tough challenge to take any points from these remaining games but if they are going to keep clear of the danger zone near the bottom of the table then somehow they must do so. The teams below them and particularly a Enfield have somewhat easier games in the coming three rounds. Harlow Wil be extremely fortunate to maintain their to rather tenuous hold on the eighth place.
 

Team List

1 -  Paul Prindiville

2 -  Scott Romaine (Captain)
3 -  Marc Williams

4 -  Darren Hawkins   (Sub James Clark 55 mins)
5 -  Paul Eynon  

6 -  Shaun Roberts 
7 -  Mark Bowering 

8 -  Kain Claridge
9 -  Lee Harron (Sub Charlie Woodington 45 mins)
10 - Michael Dobson

11 - Will Grimley
12 - Simon Vanbeck
13 - Dan Hockley

14 - Rob Mackie
15 - Francis Brown  

Sub not used: Martin Cunningham  

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