Southwold Ladies 17 Harlow Ladies 17 (28th October 2007)

Harlow played with great determination to hold a physically heavier Southwold to a draw. They can be particularly proud of their tackling and their commitment at the ruck and maul. From the kick off Harlow got away to a very good start taking play into the Southwold half.   From the third breakdown the ball went loose and Harlow centre Becky Conway came through at pace and kicked the ball ahead. She chased it down, running shoulder to shoulder with a defender and not having space to gather kicked on again now beginning to move ahead. One more tap on and she had space to collect the ball and go over for the try and a 5 – 0 lead. After a period of Southwold pressure Harlow managed to clear to midfield from a penalty.  Minutes later at a ruck an opposition player crashed over at the ruck and Harlow hooker Emily Gizzi sustained a serious arm injury leading to her substitution by Carla Marshall. Ten minutes later Southwold were again penalized mid field for going over the top. Harlow scrum half Nicky King realising that  the opposition were not organised grabbed the ball, took a quick tap and made a solo dash upfield. She was chased down by two defenders but had the pace to make the 40 yards to the try line and touch down under the posts. Becky Conway converted for a 12 – 0 lead. In the closing minutes of the half Harlow faced a concerted forward attack in their own 22 but held on to their lead till the turnaround.

\in the second half Southwold, realising they could not match Harlow for pace,  regrouped and put Harlow under much more pressure. In particular making good use of their heavy pack in the rucks and mauls.  Harlow defended well but were forced to play in their own half  and on 55 minutes they powered their way over for a try making it 12 – 5.  A second converted try allowed them to level the score. For some time Southwold had been putting pressure on Harlow no 9 Nicky King with a combination of a driving scrum and a scrum ahlf playing very close to the offside line. Harlow skipper Kelly Cotterill countered with a very good pick up from No.8 and cut across before throwing a long pass to fly half Keighley Diprose. She took a wide angle and with sheer pace cut round the Southwold winger to run in a fifty yard try putting Harlow back ahead by 17 – 12.  Towards the end of the half the Southwold pack again managed to drive over for an unconverted try leveling the game at 17 points all. In the closing minutes Harlow faced a lot of pressure deep in their own half but held on for a good result.

Team: Sam Acraman, Emily Gizzi (Subbed by Carla Marshall 20) , Sarah Lucas, Zoe Walker,
Kelly Cotterill (captain), Nichola King, Keighley Diprose, Rebecca Conway, Alison Davies, Gemma Acraman,  Sarah McCarthy, Michelle Stannard

Tries: Rebecca Conway, Nicky King, Keighley Diprose

Conversion: Rebecca Conway.

Nb. Game played at 12 a side as allowed by rules for this league

This Sunday Harlow are at home in a friendly to Chelmsford kicking off at 2pm. Support would be very welcome.

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