Ten Years On

Middlesex Sevens 1999

In 1999 a Harlow Sevens squad reached the Middlesex 7s finals and played on the hallowed turf at Twickenham Stadium beating Richmond in their last tournament as a professional club. With ten years now passed we thought we should take a look back at our seven a side team that represented Harlow at Twickenham.

Harlow rugby club booked themselves a place in the finals of the Middlesex 7’s at Twickenham on the 29th May. Playing in the qualifying tournament held at Upper Clapton, Harlow came through as winners to claim the single qualifier’s place in the final of the major UK's sevens tournament. In the early rounds they beat the home side Upper Clapton and then local rivals Bishop's Stortford. In the semi-final they met Jewson National League side Reading, taking them completely by surprise and storming to an early lead from which they never were headed. In the final they won in a close fought contest with Bracknell, with tries from Toby Clay and Peter Harries and a penalty try when Lee Harron was blocked in a race for the line after kicking ahead. It was a race which all who know him were certain he would have won and the referee was of the same opinion. . The importance of the Harlow win becomes more significant when taking into account the fact that between them Reading and Bracknell had already put out a former finalists Nottingham, Loughborough Students and Cambridge University.

Meanwhile some people had placed bets on how they would behave at Twickenham should we ever get there. (Photo right). During the qualifying tournament at Upper Clapton,  Mark Guthrie placed a bet after a few too many beers and was reminded by Kevin Thomas on the coach down to Twickenham. The bast@rd.

The report at the time read:

"The Harlow squad it showed that they were  able to rise to the occasion on their visit  to rugby headquarters at Twickenham for the finals of the Middlesex 7s. Playing a total of three games against Boland a top South African guest side, Richmond  ninth in premiership one, and London's Welsh fourth in premiership two, they were able to run in 10 at superb tries and win the admiration not only of the 350 local supporters who went with but also of the thousands of supporters in the massive Twickenham stadium.   They held Boland to a single score margin until the last two minutes when they conceded an interception trying to run the ball from their own 22. In the first round of the plate competition they knocked out Richmond and then in the plate semi-final lost to London Welsh 26 – 24 after grabbing an early two try lead.

In the first round of the  main tournament Harlow were drawn against Boland the guests side from South Africa. Boland scored in the first 10 seconds using a very well rehearsed move involving a very slick reverse pass and a race to the touchdown. For maybe 10 seconds the Harlow supporters feared that their team were about to be over run. But not so, almost immediately from the restart Lee Harron took a quick tapped penalty and started the solo break. At the tackle Harlow again recycled the ball moved it through five pairs of hands taking play deep into the Boland 22. They kept possession at three more tackles before Toby Clay was able to power is why our over the line to score under the posts. Peter Harries put the kick over and it was all square at 7 all.   Boland came back into the game very quickly attacking the ball in hand and moving it wide before cutting back in and beating the Harlow defence with a  combination of pace and running angle to score under the posts making it 14 - 7. At the restart Boland put the ball straight into touch giving Harlow the advantage of the tap penalty at the centre. Again they  showed very good ball retention and recycling at the breakdown. From a tackle 20 metres out Rhys Loveday came up with ball in hand sidstepped the defence to cut in under the posts and the score was level again. On the point of half-time Boland stretched their lead when a long raking kick to the try line wrong footed the Harlow defence allowing them to just win the race for the touchdown. Turning round with a lead of 21 points to 14 Boland certainly knew they had a serious match on their hands.

Boland extended their lead with a solo break from  deep in their own half and a 60 yard sprint to the line. Harlow refuse to let go and Lee Harron found the gap, chipped through and won the race to gather the ball and cut round to score under the posts. With the score at 28 to 21 in Boland's favour Harlow still had a chance but this went with two minutes to go when too many players were sucked into a ruck leaving the South Africans the safe overlap for the try. In the closing seconds Harlow attempted to run the ball from deep in their own 22 and almost broke  clear but conceded interception for an easy try making the final score 42 to 21 to the guest side.

 In the first round of the plate competition Harlow met Richmond the premiership Division One side. From a very good kick off Harlow took the ball just over the 10 metre line and drove forward but were forced into touch. Kent took clean possession and moved the ball out to the backs. Richmond were awarded a scrum at the break down but Lee Harron stole the ball from their scrum-half fed the backs an and loopped to take it again and win the race for the touchdown, putting Harlow in the lead 7 - 0.   Almost immediately Harlow extended their lead with some slick passing from which Toby Clay took the ball on the burst and sprinted in for a try under the posts. The Harris again stroked it over the bar for 14 point lead. Richmond got back into the game securing possession when the Harlow kick off went straight into touch and mounting effective attack drawing in Harlow defenders and creating the overlap for an easy run under the posts. Harlow came very close when Peter Harris picked up from the kick, off made a great solo break before releasing Alan Price who the sprinted 40 yards but was edged into touch one metre short of the try lime. Richmond won the put in line-out were penalised for crossing. Harron took the tap and fed Mark Kent who committed defenders allowing Harlow to to move the ball away to their backs and set up the opening for Ben Jarvis to run in the try.  The second half Richmond got back into the game with an early try. Harlow narrowly failed to extend their lead when a 60 me to break out first by Peter Harris and then Ben Jarvis went to five metres short of the try line. In the closing stages Richmond added a further score but Harlow held on to go through 21 to 19.

The win over Richmond took Harlow to the plate semi-final where they met premiership two side London Welsh. Once again Harlow came away with a storming start, the kick of went  to Harris  who put in a massive solo run for the try and a 5 - 0 lead. Harlow continued to apply pressure and Harron almost made the line but was stopped by a high tackle. Harlow countered again but this time the ball went to ground about 10 metres short, Rhys Loveday was on hand to gather cleanly and made the line for the try, the conversion for Harris giving them a 12. lead. The Welsh came back strongly, were held off by  ferocious cover tackling by Harlow but eventually got the score following a tap penalty move from the Harlow 22. London Welsh continued to apply pressure in what was becoming a ferocious contest and force their way in front converted try on the point of half time making it 12 points all at the restart. Two minutes into the second half a Harris restored Harlow's lead with a brilliant solo break sprinting clear from deep in his own half he raced all way down the touchline but with 30 metres to go was being overhauled by defender. He deliberately slowed to draw the defender in and then accelerated and changed direction relying on his change of place to make it into the corner for the try taking the score to 17 - 12 in Harlow's favour. London Welsh continued to apply pressure and despite ferocious tackling from Harlow forced another try under the posts to take the lead at 19 - 17 train. A long kick ahead and superior sprinting speed enabled them to extend it 26 - 17. Harlow continued to counter attack right up to the end of the game coming very close on  three occasions before Peter Harries took a quick tap a lot and kick and long for the corner where Alan Price won the sprint in to score the try which was converted for final score of 26 - 24 to the Welsh.

This was a performance to be remembered a tribute to do the determination and of the squad and a demonstration that Harlow's new coach Graham Richards is not only polishing the skills of the side has also given them a trend tremendous amount of self- belief.  "

At Twickenham the team lost the first game against an invitational side from South Africa Boland, but had the consolation of three converted tries, but conceded six scores to the South African team. This meant we entered the plate competition where Richmond succumbed to Harlow.

Mark "Guffers" Guthrie

Mark is still playing occasionally, coached the Ladies XV as they went on to win their league. He can be contacted on:

guffers@hotmail.com

So where are this lot now?

Back Row Left to Right:

Graham Richards (Director of Rugby)

Continue as Director of Rugby before moving on in 2003

Paul "Sooty" Clague (Coach)

Coached Harlow 1st XV from 1990 - 2003 emigrated to New Zealand in Feb 2006, working as a Maths teacher in Mount Maunganui College in the sunny Bay of Plenty and coaching schoolboy rugby at Under 14 level. He can be contacted on paul.clague@gmail.com

Peter Harries

Emigrated to New Zealand in 2004, working as a teacher in Howick, Auckland, New Zealand. He can be contacted on peteharries1923@hotmail.com

Paul Eynon

Went on to captain Harlow 1st XV from 2005 to 2007 and again in 2008/09 still playing at Harlow now. Can be contacted on pauleynon@hotmail.com

Toby Clay

Returned to play at Romford and Gidea Park at the end of this tournament not sure what he is doing now do you know? Let us know on pauleynon@hotmail.com  

Paul Gutteridge

Alan Price

Retired from 1st XV rugby at the end of this tournament. Often shows his support by cheering on the home team at Ram Gorse on a Saturday afternoon.

Mark Kent

Went on to play for Harlow until moved to Ongar and Upper Clapton. Injury forced him into retirement in 2005.

Richard May (Chief Supporter)

Went on playing for Harlow until Emigrated to New Zealand in 2006. Working as a Site Manager for a large chemical company near the beach!!! Now competing in triathlons and marathon running and coaching an under 11 rugby team. Number 6 jersey retired to Maysie after 24 years service to the club. Richie can be contacted on richard2may@hotmail.co.uk

Front Row Left to Right:

Alan Price (Club Secretary)

Was he just there for the beer and support the boys? Alan can be found at Harlow for most home games and coordinates the referees for Harlow.

Ben Jarvis

Went on to captain Harlow 1st XV for the 2003-04 season before shoulder and neck injuries plagued the rest of his career. Can still be found watching games at Harlow.

Rhys Loveday

Continued to play for Harlow until injury forced him to retire from rugby. Recently played in a re-union game for his youth team at Harlow at the end of April.

Lee Harron (7’s Captain)

Went on to captain Harlow 1st XV from 1999 to 2003 before leaving to play at Old Albanians from 2003 to 2005. Returned to Harlow in a player coach capacity in 2005 before taking on the Director of Rugby role in 2008.

Wayne Morgan

Has continued to play 1st team rugby for Harlow and has been a key member of the team this season. Still playing at Harlow now.

Jon Locke (1st XV Captain)

Stood down as Captain and retired due to injury shortly after this tournament. Now Head Master at Leventhorpe School in Sawbridgeworth.

John Harron (Chairman of Rugby)

Stood down as Chairman of Rugby shortly after the tournament and became Vice Chairman of Harlow Rugby Club.