Harlow Under 13s 29 Jesi Rugby’70 14

Harlow Rugby Club made history on Saturday when they hosted a touring Under 13 side from Jesi which is a town on the Adriatic coast of Italy.The visitors flew into Stansted on Friday and after visiting Duxford on Saturday  morning, spent the afternoon at Harlow Ruby Club where they competed in a “trials” match with the Harlow  under 13s.

The match was played in four quarters and as the travelling began to take its toll  on the Italian boys, who had a  squad of only sixteen players, some of the Junior Rams sportingly agreed to fill the spaces as some of the Tourists became injured and tired.

Alex Burns, playing his first game for Harlow, had a promising debut.

The Italian boys started well with their powerful number 8 breaking tackles and sprinting over the line. This try was converted as was the visitors’ second try.

Jesi were on top at this stage of the game and at the interval the score was 14-0  to Jesi.  Harlow struck back  very quickly during the second quarter  and Ryan Clark scored for Harlow. A powerful run by Tom Cunningham saw the flanker score Harlow’s  second try but both conversions were missed. The score was then 14-10 to Jesi  and there was no score in the third quarter.

 As the visitors tired in the last quarter the Junior Rams began to break away and Connor Hatcher –Staines put Harlow in the lead with a try converted by Scott Whitby.

In the dying minutes Harlow scored two more tries , the scorer of both tries  was Fraser Bleach and one conversion by Whitby left the final score at Harlow 29  Jesi 14.

The day was a great success and the Italian team, known as the Young Tigers at home, had a superb time and have formed a strong  attachment to  Harlow Rugby club. TheJuniorRams have been invited back to Jesi next year.

Harlow Under 13s.   Hatcher-Staines, Stallman, Whitby.R, Parker, Jones, Bleach, Cunningham, Bilton, Lang, Shipp, Dhlamini, Sinfield, Coubrough, Seeley, Kuczko, Harvey, Clark.C,  Humphreys,  Clark.B,  Hoy,  Clark.R,  Whitby.S,  Adams,  Davis, Burns.                   v