Harlow 13 Ipswich 23 

London League Division Two North East

13 November 2010

This is a difficult match to sum up as far as Harlow are concerned. It cannot be denied that they lost a match where a win was possible and very much needed to get them away from the bottom of the table. On the other hand they played far better and with much more resolve and commitment in the tackle than they have in many games in recent months. If they can maintain this level of commitment then they must have a reasonable chance of achieving a turnaround. The league table is now splitting, with four clubs at the bottom of the table, Harlow among them, becoming detached from the rest. If Harlow could produce the play they have this season on their best occasions on a more regular basis then they might be able to climb away from the relegation zone.

Saturday saw the return of Rhys Powell playing at Harlow centre. He played his youth rugby at Harlow before moving off and playing for many years in the higher echelons of the game. Everyone at Harlow is delighted to see him back; he is a playmaker and a gifted ball player who can make a difference to any side.

Harlow started the stronger of the two sides and put considerable pressure on Ipswich in the opening exchanges. They came close to scoring a try within early attack from the three quarters only for the last pass to go to ground but then minutes later manage to move the ball wide if for rob Mackie, the fullback, to come into the line and brush past the last defender to touch down near the corner. The conversion missed but a 5 point lead lifted the Harlow game. For the majority of the half Ipswich attacked strongly and Harlow were forced to defend for much of the time. Their tackling however was good and it was only 10 minutes before the interval when Ipswich were awarded a penalty and managed to kick to the corner from where they set up a line-out and were able to work the ball free and drive over for an unconverted try to level the scores. Harlow were able to respond quickly slotting a penalty to retake the lead only for Ipswich to return with one of their own taking it to 8 points each at halftime.

From the restart Ipswich took play deep into the Harlow 22 and for nearly 15 minutes maintained an enormous amount of pressure on the try line. On several occasions they crossed the line only to be held up and on others were stopped by try saving tackles only yards short. Eventually they managed breakdown the Ipswich attack and clear the ball up-field. In what was one of their first attacks of the half they managed to move the ball out to Will Grimley playing on the wing who brushed off the first defender and sprinted half the length of the field to touch down in the corner giving Harlow a 13 points to 8 lead. They held on this to the beginning of the final quarter when they reacted too slowly to an Ipswich tap penalty and allowed them to break clear for an easy try. The game continued as a closely fought contest until the final 10 minutes when Harlow first conceded an easy penalty within kicking range to allow Ipswich to go ahead and then with the clock running down the visitors finally found a gap in the Harlow defence to touch down near the posts and convert for a 23 points to 13 victory at full time.

Next weekend Harlow are away to Braintree who are second in the table. They are a high scoring side and with home advantage it will be a serious challenge. If Harlow were able to take the points they would have produced one of the largest upsets in the season so far.
 

Tries: Rob Mackie, Will Grimley

Conversions:  

Penalties:  Michael Dobson

Team List

1 -  Danny Lane

2 -  James Lewis (sub Martin Mallia 55 mins)

3 -  Paul Johnson (sub Paul Prindiville 30 mins)

4 -  Marc Barr

5 -  Kerry Palmer

6 -  Shaun Roberts (blood sub Martin Mallia 15 mins)

7 -  Scott Romaine

8 -  Paul Eynon

9 -  Charlie Woodington

10 - Michael Dobson

11 - Chris Webb

12 - Rhys Powell (sub Lewis Alderman 65 mins)

13 - Glen Verner

14 - Will Grimley

15 - Rob Mackie

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