Colchester 2nd XV 17 Harlow 2nd XV 20

Merit Table

The Harlow 2^nd team have been on something of a magical mystery tour so far this season. They are a very young team with a very positive approach to open rugby and none of the players are ever sure where this wonderful attitude will take them before they kick-off. The pre-match team talk is all about taking risk, a ‘don’t let me down’ mentality and playing the game at a helter skelter pace and intensity. Saturday’s trip to Colchester was no different except that the long and winding road to their ground was heavy with traffic and the kick-off was put back to 3.15pm as most of the team didn’t arrive until 3.00pm. Unfazed, the 2nds started the game at a frenetic pace and committed themselves to the offload game that is so difficult to defend against. After just 10 minutes, Harlow ran the ball from deep in their own half, Bate, the Harlow fly-half was distributing the ball beautifully and he found his two centres, Polkinghorne and Heapy on top form. After carrying the ball up through the middle, the centres linked with the Harlow wingmen to carry the momentum forward, from a position that was still 35m from the Colchester line, the ultra mobile forwards Sean Roberts and Darren Hawkins continued the move by supporting the offload brilliantly and they in turn were always looking for the simple pass, and by the time Polkinghorne strolled over the try-line, the Colchester team had been decimated. Colchester had been warned, and their much bigger and more experienced pack decided to keep things very tight by mauling the ball up the pitch at every opportunity. They replied to Harlow’s score with a maul that they carried at least 30m. The Harlow pack knew they were in for a hard day’s night if they let the big Colchester pack settle in this strategy. Harlow did not fail, this team know they can work it out and they responded with a try that was nearly the equal of their first effort. Alasdair Philips, the Harlow full-back fielded a loose Colchester kick on his own 22m line. After skinning their chasing winger, he looked up, saw what was in front of him and decided to go for it. Straightening up, he burst through the attempted tackle of the advancing centres - both of them - he then shrugged of another attempted tackle before he was finally held up, watching this unfold, you could see the Harlow players organise themselves to carry on the Phillips break which they duly did after Phillips kept on his feet with considerable strength and found a team mate with the offload, the ball then went trough a dizzying number of phases, all of them no longer than 3m passes or offloads and again the Colchester defence was ripped to shreds as Hawkins touched down under the posts. Bate converted. Very sloppy defending allowed the one solitary Colchester line-break to become a converted try just before half-time.

The second half appeared to bring a slight tactical change from Harlow who, eschewing the riskier open play of the first half elected to use the favourable wind to kick more to the corners. At first this strategy brought good territorial gains but what Harlow gained in ground they lost in possession and fluidity. The big Colchester pack, particularly their ball-carrying number 8 and their enormous walrus-like loosehead prop, started to use this set-piece possession to their advantage through the maul and short pick-and-drives and consequently Harlow started to lose the control that they had over the game. Colchester were very much potential winners in the game at this point and they knew it. Harlow also missed some very kickable penalties that would have eased this pressure. As the game went into the final quarter, Harlow were in a much tighter game than they should have been given their skilful superiority but Harlow got the break that they deserved when the excellent Philips managed to finish off some sustained Harlow pressure with an unconverted try and Bate also added a later penalty. A tense final few minutes saw Colchester lay siege to the Harlow line, and the chance for an undeserved win, but the call for help from the stretched three-quarters was met by the outstanding Harlow backrow to get back and let it be known that the Harlow defence was resolute. Harlow held on to win a highly enjoyable match 20-17.

To view more match reports - click here

No pictures this week