Harlow 7 Norwich 38

Powergen London & South East Div II North

Harlow found fifth placed Norwich just too strong on Saturday and suffered a defeat which means that they cannot now finish higher than 10^th of the twelve teams in the league and that relegation is almost certain.

The team fielded played with great commitment and courage but again it was the large injury list which proved too big a handicap. Harlow had at least eleven players unavailable almost all with long or short term injuries. Almost all of these would, if available have been selected. For most of the game the Rams were forced to defend on a heavy wet pitch; a couple of soft tries by Norwich in the closing minutes extended the margin to 31 points, a score which flatters the visitors. Perhaps the best news for the future at Harlow is the fact that they now have an effective second team playing good rugby. A year ago if the firsts had called up so many players from the seconds they would have been massacred. Now the players in the seconds are match fit and able to perform well at first team level. What is more despite losing so many key players the seconds still managed an away win at Rochford on Saturday.

Harlow played uphill in the first half and after an early foray into the Norwich 22 were pegged back by Norwich for much of the game. The visitors made good use of the boot to keep play in Harlow half, happy to trade possession for territory. If you have accurate kickers it is a good tactic in the conditions. The Harlow forwards forced their way up field only to have the ball kicked back forcing them to do it all over again. At the end fatigue will tell, and it did. The Harlow lineout was very good with Cochrane in particular performing very well as the key lineout jumper. The Harlow tackle line held for most of the first quarter before a Norwich found a gap for their first try, for a 5 – 0 lead. A few minutes later a penalty extended this to 8 points. With the advantage of the slope to come Harlow would have been happy to turn around at this but a bad defensive mistake from a deep Norwich kick let them in for another try making it 0 – 13 at the turn around.

For the third quarter Harlow played with great commitment but could not play enough of the game in Norwich territory to put them under much danger. A further try by the visitors pushed the game out of reach at 0 – 20. Harlow had one feint chance when they moved the ball to the right and almost put Vanbeck clear but the gap was just too small. Norwich extended their score to 27 with another converted try. Far from giving up Harlow hit back hard with the pack putting in some very good short stabbing drives and more important big hits when setting the ruck. At a scrum on the 10 meter line Eynon picked up from the No. 8 position and went on the charge taking out the Norwich fly half. From the ruck ball Dunn, the replacement scrum half, saw a half chance on the narrow side and moved the ball out. Two quick passes saw Alasdair Phillips take the ball at pace on the wing and slice through the narrowest of gaps to score. Dunn landed a very good conversion from the touchline to round off the move he had started. Norwich added a further penalty and then two more tries in the closing minutes.

Harlow now have a week without a game before they travel to second placed Staines, hopefully with more players to choose from.

Team: G. Brown, Romaine, Yates, Scott, Palmer (sub Burroughs 40), Todd (sub Edwards 55), Cochrane, Eynon, Johnson (sub Dunn 55), Powell, Odell, Morgan, Handscombe, Vanbeck, Phillips.

Try: Phillips, Conversion: Dunn.

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