50 - 10 Dagenham

Date: Sun 18th Nov 2018

Time: 11:30am

Match Report

Sunday 18th November –Harlow u13s 50 Dagenham u13s 10 – Cup

This week our young red men hosted Dagenham who had kindly agreed to travel to us for this cup game instead of playing at their ground.

Winning rugby can be like waiting for a bus, nothing for ages then three wins come along at once! Harlow Under 13s have dragged themselves out of a slump in form to find a way to win, and today we found a way to win despite our quicker players not being available due to injury. This meant that George Snowdon played out of position on the wing but stepped up and had a corker of a game with many surging runs and topped it off with a try! We understand that George’s Mum almost wet herself at the point he scored, we just wonder if Nina admitted almost wetting herself what really happened? 
Dagenham had improved a great deal since the last time we played them their rucking has certainly improved and this put Harlow under some pressure as we were forced to commit more players to the ruck or lose the ball.

The pressure we have worked on building on the opposition in practice and during the last few week’s games was a tactic that worked well for us as we opened the scoring in the early part of the half.

Some good carrying from Jamie Oliver took us into the opposition half where we won a scrum, the ball was passed wide to George Snowdon who had a fantastic long run which led to Archie Goodger scoring our first try.

The pressure continued with great tackling by Archie Goodger and Owen Eynon which led to turnover ball where Owen Eynon was able to dart down the blind side to dot down for our second try.

Our third try came from strong carrying from Jamie Oliver and a brilliant off-load for Henry Stovell to score his first try.

At this point the way we looked after the ball in contact started to dip and we were stripped of the ball for Dagenham’s man of the match Conrad to break away and score their first try.

To get back on top Harlow needed to work hard, from a Dagenham scrum Harlow win the ball against the head ship it wide. George Snowdown open’s his legs to score his first try in four years in the corner. (See previous puddle reference.) As we got closer to half time another scrum and the ball is passed to Henry Stovell to score his second try.

Half time: Harlow led 25-5

The second half started off with Dagenham scoring a try reminding the Harlow players they need to concentrate all the way through the game. From a Harlow scrum we move the ball to Henry Stovell who takes it upon himself to carry hard and around the opposition to score. Almost to prove we now had the game by the scruff of the neck from the next scrum Henry does the same again to score his fourth try of the game.

There was some good hard carries from Brandon Jackson during this game and from one of his carries Dagenham were penalised at the break down, Owen tapped quickly (off his knee, thankfully the referee had his back turned, as it should have been off his foot) and passed to Tobie Westbrook who with some great running then unleased a pass to Rhys Eynon who scorched passed the defence to score.

As we approached the end of the game Danny Billington, who had carried hard all morning, got his hands on the ball and bashed through, with an outreached arm just made the try line. Harlow wanted one more before the game was over and charged for the line. When Brandon Jackson carried it looked like he was heading for touch but with a great off-load around the back managed to keep the ball alive and to prevent the ball going out into touch. From the resulting rucks the Dagenham defence were all committed and Owen Eynon darted through the open space to score his second try and that was the game over.

Next week we take on Woodford where we will be required to increase our level of performance, something that this group of players are very capable of. Practice Wednesday evening from 7pm as we prepare and build for next Sunday. Roll on our next game.

Harlow Man of the Match: Henry Stovell (Nominated by Dagenham)
Dagenham Man of the Match: Conrad (Dagenham No 10)
Harlow Man of the Match/Special Mentions: Shared between George Snowdon helping the team out by playing out of position and playing incredibly well and Rhys Eynon, stepping up to play and sealing off many more rucks than some of the forwards.
Tries: Archie Goodger, Owen Eynon (2), Henry Stovell (4), George Snowdon, Rhys Eynon, Danny Billington
Referee: Paul Eynon first half, Ian Rundall second half – neither got any more injured 

1st Half Team
1. Jacob Morgan, 2. Archie Goodger, 3. Ed Lea, 4. Charlie Jacques, 5. Will Pite, 8. Jamie Oliver, 9. Owen Eynon. 10.Tobie Westbrook, 11. Joe Court, 12. Danny Billington, 13. Henry Stovell (Captain), 14. Noah Reynolds, 15. Rhys Eynon

2nd Half Team
1. Callum Boyce, 2. Archie Goodger, 3. Ed Lea, 4. George Snowdon, 5. Brandon Jackson, 8. Jamie Oliver, 9. Owen Eynon. 10. Tobie Westbrook, 11. Joe Court, 12. Danny Billington, 13. Henry Stovell (Captain), 14. Noah Reynolds, 15. Rhys Eynon

X