On Saturday all Harlow senior men’s teams were playing league/merit table games and all three came away with important wins. The first team snatched victory in a very closely contested match against Wanstead who are in fourth place in the league. Since the start of the second half of the league season the Firsts have played five matches; meeting the top five if teams in the league. They have come away with two wins and with bonus points in two of the other games. It represents a very good recovery since the very difficult time they had at the beginning of the season.

The Rams, Harlow second team, produced a very good win against Chingford. They too started the season with difficulty but have improved steadily all the way through and are now a major force in the Essex merit table division two.

The first team contest at Wanstead was close fought throughout and it was only in the closing minutes that Harlow were able to make sure of their victory thanks to some good kicking by Danny Smith. The home side took the lead with a penalty after 10 minutes and then 10 minutes later Harlow responded with a good try from a scrum inside the Wanstead 22. Kain Claridge playing at number eight picked up and made the break before offloading to scrum half Rhys Powell who jinked his way past two defenders to touch down under the posts. Danny Smith converted for a seven points to three lead.

 

Both sides slogged out the rest of the half but the score remained had seven points to three in Harlow’s favour at the interval.

 

The second half was again a close contest but with neither side conceding any score. After 72 minutes Harlow found themselves defending a five if metre scrum. Three times the scrum wheeled and had to be reset before the referee decided that it was Harlow that was disrupting and awarded Wanstead a penalty try. They slotted the conversion from under the posts to take a 10 points to 7 lead.

 

With not much more than 2 minutes to go Harlow were awarded a penalty within easy kicking range and decided to go for the posts on the basis that there wasn’t time to set up further scoring opportunities. Danny Smith slotted the kick to level the score was and it appeared that the draw or was the most likely result.

 

However in injury time Wanstead were penalized for dissent on the Harlow 10 metre line. With no time left for further phases of play, despite the distance, they opted to go for goal and Danny Smith slotted an excellent long range kick to clinch the match for Harlow by 13 points to 10.

 

The results secures their eighth position in the league and increases their chances of a gaining a reasonable mid table position from the remaining matches.

Harlow Rams went to Chingford expecting a very tough game but, to their credit, the whole team responded well and contested from the very first whistle. Chingford took an early lead with a converted try but Harlow hit back with one of their own from Jack Burns and Ryan McGlone converted. Chingford went ahead again with a second converted try but Harlow were able to narrow the gap on the point of halftime when McGlone to slotted a penalty. In the second half Chingford extended their lead, first with a penalty and then an unconverted try. Until last 10 minutes it looked as though they would hold out to secure the win. Harlow however hit back with another converted try and then immediately after the restart launched a further attack allowing Mike Watts to run through and score and again McGlone was on target with the conversion to clinch a 24 points to 22 victory for Harlow.

As it Happened

10 mins: Penalty 3-0
20 mins: Try 3-5 Rhys Powell Pass from Kain Claridge from bass of scrum. Conversion 3-7 Danny Smith

Half Time

72 mins: Penalty Try 8-7 Harlow conceded 3 penalties on their 5 metre line for wheeling the scrum. Conversion 10-7
78 Mins: Penalty 10-10 Danny Smith
80 Mins: Penalty 10-13 Danny Smith

Full Time

Tries: Rhys Powell
Conversions: Danny Smith
Penalties: Danny Smith (2)
Harlow Man of the Match:

Donkey of the Match:

Harlow Rugby Club: Ram Gorse, Elizabeth Way, Harlow, Essex CM20 2JQ. Tel: 01279 429750. To get directions Click here

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