Harlow 36 Wymondham 32

London League Division Three North East

29th October 2011

Harlow kept their promotion challenge alive on Saturday with an important win over Wymondham.  They outscored the visitors by six tries to three and should have come away with a substantial margin.  In fact by conceding five penalties they allowed the visitors to come within a very narrow margin of victory.  If there is a lesson to be learned from this game and to some extent from several others this season it is that Harlow must reduce the penalty count.  The two good things to emerge from the afternoon were that the Harlow tries came from real quality rugby and that when Wymondham twice took the lead in the final quarter Harlow hit back with real commitment if to regain the upper hand.  This leaves them in second place in the league four points behind Holt, the leaders.  Next weekend Harlow take a break in their league campaign to play a home match against Cheshunt in the second round of the RFU Senior Vase competition.  The match kicks off at 2.00 PM and on the present showing an exciting afternoon’s rugby can be expected.  Admission is free he and spectators are very welcome.  Parents are encouraged to bring their children along for what should be an enjoyable afternoon.

Harlow started well taking play into the Wymondham half straight from the kick off.  They set up several rucks close to the try line but attempts to power their way over with the forwards were unsuccessful although from one of these Kerry Palmer the Harlow lock came very close to breaking clear.  Finally a quick pass from scrum half Lee Harron found Dobson the Harlow number 10 who made a solo break for the line sidestepping his opposite number to touch down close to the posts.  He converted his own try for a seven point lead.  From the restart Harlow were quickly back on to the attack and on 10 minutes an attack from the forwards, ball in hand, sore Harlow prop Danny Stonehouse crashed through for the second Harlow try.  Dobson converted for a 14. point Lead.  The visitors responded to the early setbacks by moving the ball wide rather than taking on Harlow in the pack.  Seventeen MINs into the game they moved the ball wide and ran in a good long distance try taking the score to fourteen points to five.  Harlow added a further try when Lee Harron made a good solo break wrong footing the defence to cut through and touch down.  With a 19 points to five lead Harlow briefly seemed to be in control but two penalties in quick succession meant that for the time and the game had been running for half an hour the home margin had been reduced to 19 points to 11.  Fou minutes later Harlow hit back when fullback Rob Mackie came into the line at pace taking a clean pass and splitting the defence wide open to touch down under the posts.  The conversion took the Harlow tally to 26 points.  Wymondham hit back with another penalty and then right on the point of halftime ran in a quality try from a move that started well back in the Harlow half making the score 26 points to 19 at the interval.

Realizing that they had a good chance of taking the game the visitors started the second half very strongly and within five minutes run in a good try which they converted to level the score.  10 minutes later they hit back with another penalty to take the lead at 29 points to 26.  From the restart Harlow drove into the Wymondham half and made good use of their pack to control possession.  In 4 minutes they had set up a good control and moved the ball wide allowing their centre Simon Vanbeck to break free and touched down near the corner.  The try was unconverted but Harlow were back into the lead by 31 points to 29.  The game continued with a substantial amount of cut and thrust between the forwards with Harlow doing their best to keep play he in the Wymondham half and out of the range of their scrum half who was proving to be an excellent place kicker.  On 65 minutes however Harlow conceded yet another penalty which was slotted from the halfway line to give the visitors the lead yet again.  From the kick off Harlow took play back deep into the visitors half and concentrated on a combination of rucks and mauls to maintain ball control.  Wymondham put the ball into touch about 15 yards from their try line.  Harlow won the ball from the throw and set up an excellent rolling maul.  With Harron at the back calling instructions they drove the ball forward the full 15 yards to the try line allowing Harron to take the ball and burrow in to touch down for the try.  The conversion from wide out and into the wind fell short but Harlow now had a 4 point Lead.  The final 10 minutes soar a ferocious attack by the visitors leaving Harlow to have to defend desperately much of the time when inside their own 22.  With very few minutes to go Wymondham were offered another penalty but as three points would not be enough to take the game they opted to run the ball; the Harlow pack held out and eventually forced a penalty allowing them to clear downfield.  There was a short final phase of forward play before Harron, realizing that time was up kicked the ball into touch to bring the match to an end.  Although Harlow made the victory much harder to achieve than it needed to be the spectators had been provided with an excellent and exciting game of rugby.

Tries: Michael Dobson, Danny Stonehouse, Lee Harron (2), Rob Mackie, Simon Vanbeck

Conversions:  Michael Dobson (3)

Penalties:

As it happened...

6 mins TRY Micheal Dobson Conversion successful Micheal Dobson 7-0
10 mins TRY Danny Stonehouse Conversion successful 14-0
17 mins Try Wyndmondham Conversion missed 14-5
19 mins TRY Lee Harron Conversion missed 19-5
25 mins Penalty Wyndmondham  19-8
28 mins Penalty Wyndmondham 19-11
32 mins TRY Rob Mackie Conversion successful 26-11

35 mins Penalty Wyndmondham 26-14
40 mins Try Wyndmondham 26-19

Half Time Harlow 26 Wyndmondham 19

45 mins Try Wyndmondham Conversion successful 26-26
45 mins Aled Hills replaced Will Grimley

50 mins Stuart Wilkins replaced Martin Mallia injury
55 mins Penalty Wyndmondham 26-29
59 mins TRY Simon Vanbeck Conversion missed 31-29
63 mins Penalty Wyndmondham 31-32
65 mins Martin Cunningham replaced David Roze tatical

70 mins TRY Lee Harron Conversion missed 36-32

Team List

1 -  Dave Roze (Sub Martin Cunningham)

2 -  Martin Mallia (Sub Stuart Wilkins)

3 -  Danny Stonehouse

4 -  Mark Twiner

5 -  Kerry Palmer

6 -  Shaun Roberts

7 -  Mark Bowering

8 -  Darren Hawkins

9 -  Lee Harron

10 - Michael Dobson

11 - Will Grimley (Sub Aled Hills)
12 - Wayne Heapy
13 - Simon Vanbeck

14 - Wernez Kotze

15 - Rob Mackie

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