Harlow 4th XV 45 Hitchin 3rd XV 0

Merit Table

Saturday 14th November 2009

As the day dawned, dark and horrible, cold and wet, all the moaning about the hard pitches was replaced with a desire for it at least not to be so wet.  The first team pitch was to be saved for the next day and so we played on the slightly damp middle pitch.

Hitchin are top of the league and arrived at Harlow in dribs and drabs, they had 13 players and so we lent them a couple.  Big hand to Hammer, John Stock and Darren who played for Hitchin, without this we would have been unable to use our substitutes.

We kicked off playing downhill with the gale behind us; it was not long before the Harlow pack showed its usual dominance.  With Rob Matthews at 8, we had an extra dimension in our back row, he and Justin communicated well for the whole game (except for a couple of Trigger blindside moves).

Harlow scored their first when the ball span out to the wing and Rob Spinks crashed over into the corner.  Unfortunately Crabby was unable to convert this, gusting winds causing a few problems.

Gaggy scored from a quick tap penalty crashing over from 5 metres out.  This was the first of his 2 tries scored, the second coming in much the same way.

James Mitchell scored when the backs moved the ball out quickly, created an overlap and scored close to the posts (he also scored a 2^nd I think-memory loss)

At half time Harlow led 31-0.  There had been some good kicking from Justin and Crabby (new fly half) which had kept Hitchin pinned in their half.  The front row of Danny, Neal and Chris Powell well supported by Ben and Big Andy had pretty much destroyed the scrum.  The back row consisting of Rob, Gaggy and Kev, kept the Hitchin backs always on the back foot. 

The second half saw us make some substitutions, Swampy came on, recovering from a knee injury, he was keen (to say the least) to make his mark as was Barney whose try saving tackle left him with a broken nose. 

Danny Fitz scored when he combined his blistering pace with a deft and cunning sidestep, this left the defence in tatters and he crashed over to score. 

The Harlow backs had been all over Hitchin for the whole game, Mumbles was around the pitch, tackling everything that came his way.  Rob Jones (not taking any chances and making his own way to the game this week) covered his wing, nothing got past him.

I think Crabby scored the last try, his pace taking him round the defence.

Funny Moments- Someone punching Danny F, not a very wise move.  Danny explained to him it was not clever. This led to Tony warning both skippers to get it calmed down.

Swampy trying to kill everyone in the warm-up so he could start!!

Barneys’ son telling him that the nose-breaking, try saving tackle he had delivered was soft.  Come on Frazer, we all know it was a great tackle.

I had my nose broken and moaned like a proper back, totally accidental, no black eyes-nothing to show for it.  As a back I will probably need to get one of those face masks that footballers wear.

I think it unlikely that we will face the same team at Hitchin, they did say they were missing some first choice players, fair play to them though, it was a good, hard game played in murky conditions.

MOTM- All the people who played for Hitchin and as usual the whole pack.

COTM-The 4 people who let Branchy down at the last minute, and causing the 2^nd team game to be cancelled at the very last minute.

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