Harlow 28 Trojan FC 12

Touring Match

Last Tuesday evening Harlow welcomed the Trojan Rugby Club from Sweden to Ram Gorse.  Climate conditions mean that in Sweden the Rugby season is in the summer so for the visitors this was a pre-season warm up. Harlow used it as an opportunity to field a “development squad“ based heavily on colts and the younger senior players, albeit with a few “older and wiser inclusions. A large number of spectators turned out to make great rugby occasion cheering every move by both sides.

The game was played in three sessions to allow coaches to spend time on the field talking to their squads and to rotate players. The first session established the pattern for the game. The Swedish squad showed great commitment in the forwards and tackled hard.  They had problems however with the pace of the Harlow team, forwards and backs, The Rams offloaded the ball quickly in the tackle and move it wide exposing weaknesses in the defence. Harlow ran in four excellent tries during the session and at the turnaround opted to replace the few older players with younger ones.

In the second session Harlow still were in control but had to work harder as the visitors very quickly adapted to what for them was a new style of rugby. Trojan made things harder for themselves however by kicking away a lot of possession which allowed Harlow to use their pace in the counter attack. The results were three more home tries. During this session and in the third a number of Harlow players pulled on the red Trojan shirts and joined in to support the visitors. It had the effect of making it a closer contest but more important it helped both sides. It set a challenge readily taken up to the young Harlow squad, to prove they could match some of the more experienced Harlow players. The visitors made full use of the boost with players like Harron, Prindiville and Bohl playing alongside them.  This certainly helped them to get onto the score sheet in the latter stages of the game and more important provided them with valuable tactical experience.

In a game like this the score line is not particularly important Harlow were delighted to be able to help another club prepare for their season. For the rams it proved that there is a major benefit in  bringing together their younger players, expect to see them fielding a development squad a number if time next season. Lots of new friendships came out of the encounter and a return visit is a strong possibility.

Harlow Squad: Ball, Davies, Prindiville, Hawkins, Eynon, Summers, Bowering M, Elston, Woodington, Bohl, Cootes, Banks, Treamer D, Grimley, Hitchcock, Treamer R, Yates, Twinner, Barr, Mulvey, Branch M, Carter, Cunningham, Hockley, Johnson, Jackson, Fitzpatrick, Hynes, Kavanagh, Bate, Harron, Brown F

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