Southwold 7 Harlow 19 

31st October 2010

League: National Challenge South East: North Division 2

Southwold won promotion to this division after going undefeated for the whole of last season and until Sunday were undefeated this season as well. On Sunday Harlow changed that putting in a really strong performance against a good side. The Harlow team was strengthened compared with that which narrowly lost at Tabard by the inclusion of a new player Leah Dixon at blind side flanker and by the return of Dani McKenna at fullback. Throughout the game the powerful Harlow pack dominated most of the play, driving the home side back and securing plenty of possession. Although most of the first 20 minutes was played in the Southold half determined tackling allowed them to deny Harlow a score. Finally however a good maul by Harlow 15 metres short of the try line allowed Claire Lacey playing at No.8 to peel off and power her way over the try line with several other Harlow forwards in support. Fly half Lucie Gibson slotted the conversion for a seven nil lead. Harlow continued to apply a pressure but a few minutes later suffered their only major setback of the match. The ball went loose after a tackle if and one of the Southold centres following up hard scooped it up and sprinted clear of the defence to touch down under the posts; a successful conversion made it certain points all. Harlow came close to regaining the lead just before halftime when Rebecca Conway, playing at centre, broke clear and sprinted 30 yards to cross the try line only to be forced out giving Southwold the 22 metre drop out. The two sides went into the interval with the score at seven points each.

With the slope and the wind now in their favour Harlow started the second half very strongly. From the kick off they took the ball well into the Southwold half and used their forwards to continue dominating possession. Nicky King who was having an excellent game at scrum-half began to distribute more of the ball to the Harlow backs and after about 10 minutes the strategy paid off when the Harlow centre Davina McLellan broke clear of the defence and sprinted 30 yards to touch down under the posts. Lucie Gibson was again on target with the conversion setting the score at 14 points to 7 in favour of Harlow. As the game went into the last quarter it was all Harlow, on the few occasions when Southwold broke out of their own half Harlow broke down the attacks very quickly thanks too powerful tackling from their back row and in particular from Nikki Millman at open side flanker. Accurate tactical kicking from Gibson pushed back into the home side’s territory. Good tackling kept the Harlow backs out but then they extended their lead with another excellent number eight pick up from Claire Lacey who broke through for a try in the corner. For the last 10 minutes the Harlow pack laid permanent siege to the Southwold line without being able to score. In the final move of the match Millman dived over the ruck and touched down for what seemed a certain try. Unfortunately the referee was caught up among other players involved in the pile up and was un-sighted so could not award the score. The game therefore finished with a win for Harlow by 19 points to 7.

This win leaves Harlow in second place in the league. Although it is very early days based on the games which have been played so far by the other clubs in the division, if they can match this performance their prospects are very good. The Ladies next league match is home against Hitchin on Sunday 14th November KO 2pm.

Team: 1 Tina Baldwin, 2 Sarah Lucas, 3 Kelly Cotterill, 4 Stevie Doherty(sub Sonia Rochester 35), 5 Tracey Lee(Capt.), 6 Leah Dixon (sub Carla Marshall 45), 7 Nikky Millman, 8 Claire Lacey, 9 Nicky King, 10 Lucie Gibson, 11 Abi Perry, 12 Davina McLellan , 13 Rebecca Conway (sub Emma O'Donnell 50), 14 Shelley Morgan, 15 Dani McKenna.

Tries: Claire Lacey(2), Davina McLellan
Conversions: Lucie Gibson (2)

Harlow ladies are always looking to recruit new players: please email ladies@harlow-rugby.co.uk or phone Tracey Lee on 07890 632238

This photo is from the 2011/12 season

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Ladies XV

That's my line out face

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This photo is from the 2009/10 season

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Ladies XV

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This photo is from the 2007/08 season

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Ladies XV

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This photo is from the 2009/10 season

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Ladies XV

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This photo is from the 2008/09 season

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Ladies XV

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This photo is from the 2009/10 season

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Ladies XV

Crunch

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