Harlow 40 Cheshunt 12

Senior Vase

5th November 2011

Harlow defeated local rivals Cheshunt in the second round of the Senior Vase competition on Saturday. It was a particularly good result for them against a Cheshunt side who were better than the scoreline implies. They started at a tremendous pace with Shaun Roberts catching the ball from the kick off brushing off one defender and offloading. Denzel Crafton playing at number eight took the ball on the burst near the 22 and cut straight through the defence to touch down for the try. Fly half Danny Smith converted and in less than a minute Harlow were 7 points ahead. Two minutes later Wayne Heapy, playing at centre, crashed in for a second try. Cheshunt rallied well from the opening Harlow onslaught and produced a very good try following an attacking move by their backs taking them half the length of the field. Harlow hit back almost immediately this time the try scorer was Rob Mackie coming in at pace taking the score to 17team points to 5. Mid way through the half Cheshunt intercepted a passing move by Harlow and ran in a another try to keep them in the game at a 17 points to 12. Harlow continued to apply considerable pressure making good use of their forwards in the loose where they had an advantage in terms of power and pace. A large amount of the play was inside the Cheshunt 22 and it was only very committed defending which kept the home side at bay. With 8 minutes to go however the visitors were penalised for killing the ball and one of their players was yellow carded. Smith slotted the penalty and from the restart Harlow continued to apply a pressure. On the point of half time Danny Smith consolidated the Harlow position with an excellent long range drop goal making the score 23 points to 12 at the turnaround.

With the slope now in their favour Harlow dominated play for the majority of the second half. A number of good attacking moves by their backs came close to scoring only for the final pass to go astray. The first breakthrough however came from the forwards when a Cheshunt defender was forced to carry over the try line. From the five metre scrum Harlow forwards set up a well orchestrated drive for the line, Denzil Crafton controlled the ball very well at number eight and touched down for the try. Harlow continued to apply a pressure and extended their lead with a second forwards try following a well controlled driving maul; this time it was Danny Stonehouse who got the touchdown. In virtually the last move of the match Harlow extended the lead when mark Groggins playing at centre broke through the defence to touch down and Smith converted for a final score of 40 points to 12.

This Saturday Harlow are away to Sudbury in the league. If they are in eighth place in the league parts their results so far suggest they could be several places Harper. Home advantage is always important and Harlow will need to pull out the stops to take the points in this game which is vital if they’re going to continue their league challenge.

 

Time Line

1 min: try Crafton  Conversion Smith 7-0

3 mins: 12-0 Try Heapy

8 mins: 12-5 Try

10 mins 17-5 Try Mackie

20 mins: 17-10  Try Conversion 17-12                 

32 mins: Pen Smith 20-12

Yellow card to Cheshunt

38 mins: Drop Goal Smith 23-12

Half Time

Sub Mallia for Wilkins

Sub Roze for Stonehouse

57 min: Try  Crafton 28-12 

Sub Goggins for Mark Bowering

64 mins: Sub Stonehouse Hawkins (shoulder injury)

72 mins: 33-12 Try Stonehouse

73 mins: Sub Milne for Harron 

78 mins: 38- 12 Try Goggins  conversion Smith 40-12

Full Time

Debuts for Alex Milne & Mark Goggins

Tries: Denzil Crafton (2), Wayne Heapy, Rob Mackie, Danny Stonehouse, Mark Goggins

Conversions:  Danny Smith (2)

Penalties: Danny Smith

Drop Goal: Danny Smith

Team List

1 -  Martin Cunningham

2 -  Stuart Wilkins (Sub Martin Mallia 40 mins)

3 -  Danny Stonehouse (Sub Dave Roze 40 mins)

4 -  Kerry Palmer

5 -  Darren Hawkins

6 -  Mark Bowering (Sub Mark Goggins 57 mins)

7 -  Denzil Crafton

8 -  Shaun Roberts

9 -  Lee Harron  (Sub Alex Milne 73 mins)

10 - Danny Smith

11 - Wernez Kotze
12 - Luke Bowering
13 - Wayne Heapy

14 - Chris Webb

15 - Rob Mackie

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