Harlow 24 Mersea Island 12

London League Division Two North East

20th February 2010

Harlow returned to winning ways on Saturday with a critical victory over Mersea Island. The win moves them back above Ipswich but much more important it opens a significant gap between Harlow and the bottom three clubs in the table. They now face some tough fixtures where further points will be hard to come by but they have set a tough target for those who want to overtake them.

Harlow made a shaky start after conceding a penalty from the kick off and for the first five minutes they were forced to defend heavily inside their own 22. Eventually an Mersea handling error gave them a scrum from which Harron was able to clear up field and take off the pressure. From a breakdown following the line out Harlow took possession and moved the ball out through the backs allowing fullback Rob Mackie to come into the line and run in an excellent try. McFerran converted for a seven - nil lead. For the next 15 minutes it was predominantly a cut and thrust game midfield and although the visitors had some speed in the backs their Harlow counterparts looked more dangerous. At the beginning of the second quarter Harlow were awarded a penalty and kicked the ball into touch close to the Mersea line. A clean catch from the throw in allowed them to setup a rolling maul which drove towards the try line allowing prop Paul Prindiville to peel off with the ball and power his way over for a try. Harlow were now much more into the game and their forwards were securing a good proportion of the possession. Although they were able to launch a number of attacks ball in hand the Mersea defence was good. On 35 minutes the Mersea backs launched an attack of their own but from 35 yards out Harlow fly half Francis Brown intercepted a pass and sprinted in for a try under the posts. McFerran converted giving Harlow a 19 points to nil lead at halftime.

Harlow kicked off for the second half off and the visitors took the ball cleanly and launched an attack downfield well into the Harlow half. A combination of missed tackles and a failure to respond to the danger allowed them to break through and their number eight to touchdown for easy converted try. Within two minutes a second disaster struck when Harlow backs were on the attack only for a careless pass to be intercepted allowing Mersea to run 45 yards to touch down. At least this time the Harlow defence were able to push the ball carrier wide enough to make the conversion difficult and the kick did not carry. However in the space of only 3 minutes Harlow had let the visitors right back into the game with a margin of 19 points to 12, meaning that only a converted try a would be needed to level the score. For most of the second half although Harlow launched a number of good attacking moves if they were now facing an opposition who took every advantage of the fact that they had been let back into the game. Realising that the Mersea backs could be a threat at close quarters Harlow made good use of tactical kicking to keep play as far as possible out of their own half. Was only in the final 12 minutes that Harlow made the game safe. From a penalty in midfield they kicked it out deep into the Mersea half, won clean possession at the line out and set up an extremely good rolling maul. Lee Harron peeled off with the ball and dummied one defender before passing to Will Grimley who took the ball at pace and ran in for a try in the corner. With a score now extended to 24 points to 12 Harlow had the protection of a two score margin and kept the pressure on until final whistle.

Next weekend Harlow are away to saffron Walden for a match RE scheduled after it was cancelled as a result of snow. It will be a tough challenge and a lot will depend on how many of their first choice players are available and fit. If however they were able to take the points it would make an important contribution to their finishing in the top half of the table

Tries: Rob Mackie, Paul Prindiville, Frances Brown,  Will Grimley

Conversions:  James McFerran (2)

Penalties:

Team List

1 -  Paul Prindiville

2 -  Scott Romaine (Captain)
3 -  Matt Branch

4 -  Kerry Palmer (Sub 72 mins Terry Blackwell )

5 -  Paul Eynon  

6 -  Shaun Roberts (Sub 72 mins Danny Lane )
7 -  Mark Bowering

8 -  Kain Claridge

9 -  Lee Harron

10 - Frances Brown

11 - Dan Hockley
12 - James McFerran
13 - Luke Bowering

14 - Will Grimley (Sub 72 mins Sean Banks )

15 - Rob Mackie

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