Harlow second team secured a place in the final of the Essex Second Teams Cup on Saturday with a convincing win over Thurrock. With first-team league game being cancelled the players enjoyed it a much higher levels of support than usual and rewarded the spectators with some really exciting rugby. At forward level the contest was closely fought with Harlow forwards showing more skill with the ball in hand whereas Thurrock were able to control the situation better in the rucks. In the backs however the sheer pace of the Harlow players made it a very one-sided contest.

Right from the kick-off Harlow, playing up the slope, were into the attack. They established themselves in the Thurrock half and a massive break by Gary Brown, playing at prop. punched a hole in the defence allowing him to slip a safe pass to Jake Kent-Pope at scrum-half to run in the first try. Thurrock replied very quickly slotting a penalty taking the scoreline to five points to three in favour of Harlow. Harlow continued to apply pressure however and a second break by Gareth Polkinghorne, playing at centre, added a try to extend the lead; Steve Scanlon the fly half slotting the conversion and leaving Harlow in a comfortable 12 - 3 position. For much of the remaining first half Harlow continued to attack strongly with the ball in hand showing very good link-up between forwards and backs. Shaun Roberts the captain playing at No. 8 was particularly good on the break making the hard yards and allowing his backs to distribute the ball. The Harlow half-back pairing of Jake Kent-Pope and Steve Scanlon provided a steady flow of all to the Harlow backs who continued to make ground into the Thurrock territory. Ali Phillips playing at full-back counter-attacked very strongly whenever Thurrock attempted to kick downfield and came in a number of times at pace to provide the extra man in the three-quarters. Very close to half-time Thurrock were awarded a penalty. They took play down deep into the Harlow half and attacked the Harlow line setting and effective rolling maul and managed to ground the ball for an unconverted try making the score line 12 - 8 at half time.

Thurrock started the second half strongly and for a while were able to disrupt Harlow possession and attacked through the forwards. The Harlow backs had one or two good break helps which could have produced another try but the Thurrock defence held well. When Harlow were pressed back close to their lime they were forced to defend hard against a series of driving rucks from the visitors and conceded a penalty for killing the ball. Thurrock slotted the kick making the score line 12 - 11 in Harlow's favour. Harlow countered well taking play down into the Thurrock's half and spinning the ball wide to take advantage of their pace. A penalty for offside allowed Steve Scanlon to add a further three points giving Harlow a 15 - 11 margin. With about 15 minutes to go Harlow backs moved the ball extremely well with full-back Ali Phillips coming in onto the end of the line to take pass and run 40 yards him for the try. Scanlon was just short with the conversion attempt but at 20 points to 11 Harlow had the comfort of a two score margin. As they saw the game slipping away Thurrock mounted a ferocious forward attack on the Harlow line and for nearly 10 minutes they were forced to defend, frequently from less than five metres out. Finally Harlow were able to ground the ball for a 22 drop out allowing them to clear downfield. They then hung on determinedly for the few remaining minutes to finish the game with a comfortable 20 points to 11 win.

This earns them a place in the Cup Final where they face a very tough challenge indeed meeting Barking second team. The challenge of a National League Division Two club will really test Harlow Seconds but on today's showing they should be able to do themselves credit.