Harlow 4th XV 49 Datchworth 3rd XV 0

Merit Table 

The 4th team warm up gets longer and longer.  The available number of players is growing which presents a whole new problem for us to deal with.  3 years ago you turned up and picked a position, now there is a fight to get on the pitch.  Datchworth arrived with a bare 15 and looked enviously at our subs. Brian Viney came to watch us, most of us were recruited by him 3 years ago(it was a bit like getting mugged, one minute you were watching, the next you were playing.  He also created the “4th  team half” which suggested that at half time you would be substituted, only to discover there were no subs and going off would leave the team short).  Brian liked what he saw, it has taken 3 years to get here and he helped start it all. The first 10 minutes was not our best rugby, the warm up forgotten, we all ran around like headless chickens.  It took no longer than that for us to start playing. With Sunbed not available due to a horrific foot massaging accident, Mumbles stepped in to fill his slot.  Short a front row Mark stepped in at tight head(a gesture he probably wont do again).We discovered that the forwards could secure the ball and let the backs do their jobs, it wasn’t long before we opened the scoring, Paul the full back showing what his pace can do, try scored and converted.  This was the start, the forwards won the ball and gave Justin something to work with( he travelled back from a family holiday to play for us), moving the ball out to the wing saw Rob deliver a huge handoff which left his opposite number flat on the ground and Rob in for the try, again converted.  Paul, playing out of position scored his next try,  in under the posts his pace doing the job.

The second half saw us playing uphill into the sun, aerial bombardment by Datchworth commenced, a few tactical substitutions saw Phil, Karl and Danny come on with Sean getting on as winger. Datchworth were overjoyed, we had taken fast players off and replaced them with other fast players. Once we had settled down the backs again did their work, Mumbles scored the next, a sweep move from a scrum in our 22 saw Rob and Mumbles go up the blind side, with Karl in support and some quick passing, Mumbles under the posts.  The hot sunshine was starting to take its toll on the Datchworth pack, Paul scored his 3^rd with some fast running and slick passing by the backs, it was now the turn of Karl to have some fun, good quick ball secured by the pack and a series of missed passes by Rob and Mark saw Karl on the wing disappear at high velocity to go in under the posts.  Karl scored his second after he and Paul with Mumbles in support tore through the Datchworth backs, great passing between them and Karl in under the posts.

There are a lot of people to mention, Barney played a blinder, his massive tackle spilling the ball he collected and then unfortunately passed it straight to one of the Datchworth forwards.  This however was one small mistake, it was a massive tackle to win the ball. Rob out on the wing took every ball at pace, holding on to passes which could easily have been dropped.  Justin at scrum half, delivering quality ball, and his huge box kick that caused Datchworth all sorts of trouble.  Sean, kicking down the wing, chasing it down and putting the player into touch, a net gain of about half the pitch.  The whole pack had to work hard for the ball, the front row was painful, it was the first scrum this season that we didn’t really move. Ben and Mex got on for the last 10 minutes at the end of the game, both made sure that they made the fresh legs count. 

Need to thank everyone for coming down to watch us play, forgot to do this last week.  It makes all the difference.

MOTM-  Barney(he judges himself to harshly), Paul for his hattrick, and Rob Matthews for showing us some “moves” in the backs.

COTM-Barney for passing the ball straight to the opposition.  Darren/Doreen for thinking women are better than rugby.

Scorers Paul 3, Karl 2, Mumbles 1, Rob 1, Conversions 7 Paul

To view more match reports - click here