Canterbury 83 Harlow 3 - London & South East Div I

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A very cold and miserable Saturday afternoon made Harlow’s relegation a certainty. While they were forced to send a very much weekend them to Canterbury and paid the price, all three of the teams immediately above them won. With three teams to be relegated this season under new league rules this means that whatever the outcome of the remaining games it is impossible to climb out of the drop zone.

A combination of injuries and player non-availability meant that Harlow had to field a team half of which were either colts or players returning from long periods of first team absence. To their credit they fought hard from first to last whistle but  it was too much of a challenge. Canterbury had very fast backs and despite some strong tackling by Harlow, far too often they were able to recycle the ball and create the overlap to break clear and run in the try. As usual the best of the Rams’ play came from their forwards who were still able to make ground with the rolling maul and also to  make ground from well recycled ruck ball. Whenever they tried to spin the ball out however they hit a well disciplined Canterbury defence line which would not be broken.

Canterbury easily moved to a 45 point lead in the first half and already added another try in the second before Ben Jarvis slotted a penalty for the only points to Harlow. A further setback came for Harlow when Andy Stevens was yellow carded for not retreating at a quick penalty and then just after he returned to the park James Grover had to leave with an injury.  In the final quarter the pattern continued, committed play by Harlow punctuated by Canterbury breakaway tries to which they did not have an answer.

Once again Fernando Lauria the Harlow hooker had a superb game always able to make the hard yards with the ruck ball. The game at home next Saturday will be his last before he returns to Argentina. Although they only have pride to play for now, it would be nice to think that Harlow could mobilise a side nearer to full strength to give him a happier image to take home.    

Team: Phillips, Richardson, Morgan, Romaine, Lascowski, Jarvis (Capt.), Johnson, Ephgrave, Lauria, Prindiville, Eynon, Palmer, King, Stevens, Grover (Sub Lane 55).

Penalty: Jarvis

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