Harlow 2nd XV 39 Braintree 12

Despite many disruptions and late call up’s to the 1^st team Harlow 2^nd’s got the new year off to the perfect start beating Braintree 2^nd’s 39 points to 12.

Having not played for 4 weeks Harlow were determined to start the game with a high tempo and did so camping in Braintree’s half for most of the first half.  The forwards play was excellent crashing the ball up field on the slow ball and offloading in the tackle when the opportunity arose to take command of the game.  In fact within the first five minutes they had two tries disallowed one a Gareth Summers effort when the referee obstructed a Braintree player from getting to him and another from a quick tap penalty.  It was only a matter of time though until Harlow scored their first try.  A dummy switch by Francis Brown saw him brake the gain line and shrug off two tacklers to score Harlow’s first of the afternoon.   This was converted by Brown to get Harlow off the mark 7-0.

Harlow’s forwards continued to dominate the match Braintree having no answer to Harlow’s dominate pack as they again from the kick off trudged their way into Braintree’s 22.  5 metres out scrum half Tommy Johnson saw a gap at the base of a ruck and dove over for Harlow’s second 12-0.

With the danger in Harlow’s forwards Braintree started to try and counter this by overloading defenders around the fringes of the breakdowns leaving space out wide.  Harlow used this to their advantage by spinning the ball out wide to the backs. A cleverly timed pass by centre L.Hodges spotted full back Alisdair Phillips joining the line who released him through for an easy run in to score Harlow’s third 17-0.

Harlow continued to press Braintree at every opportunity defending high up the field to force the error and when Harlow stole possession the quick offloads ensured that Braintree were always on the back foot.  A quick blindside crash by Hawkins saw Braintree overload the defence that side and clever switch play by Johnson saw second row Dan Mosely crash over to extend the lead 22-0.

Straight from the kick off Harlow got their 5^th try.  The ball was caught by Number 8 Adam Paine who broke through 3 tackles to break away into Braintree’s 22.  The ball was passed to L.Hodges in support whose offload in the tackle was received by his brother J.Hodges who in turn released the ball to Phillips to score his second of the afternoon under the posts. Conversion by Brown to make the score 29-0 at half time.

The second half started off how the first finished with Harlow’s first crashing the ball up field and securing a decent platform from which the backs could operate.  The ball was passed out to centre L.Hodges whose weighted chip over the top of Braintree’s defence was collected by Phillips who drew in his opposite number and passed the ball out to Summers in support to score 34-0.

Harlow’s final try come shortly after.  Camped in Braintree’s 22 the visitors finally conceded a penalty on their 5 metre line.  The ball was passed to J.Hodges who showed typical strength to crash through the Braintree forwards to score 39-0.

After playing the game at such a high tempo Harlow started to tire in the remaining 15 minutes and allowed the fitter Braintree side to take advantage and work their way back into the game.  After defending stoically for much for the game they took their chances well kicking for territory and penning Harlow in their half.  Two quick tries and a conversion by Braintree saw them reduce the deficit to 27 points but by then Harlow had done enough to kill the game off and emerged winners with the final score 39-12. 

Team: Clarke, Wilkins (Capt) (Knightly), Bayford,  Mosely, Hawkins, J.Hodges (Twills), Summers, Paine, Johnson, Brown, Gagg, L.Hodges, Sigston, Archer, Phillips.

Tries:  Brown, Johnson, Phillips (2), Mosely, Summers, J.Hodges

Conversions: Brown (2)

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