50 - 0 Hertford

Date: Sun 7th Apr 2019

Time: 11:30am

Match Report

Harlow Under 13’s vs Hertford ‘C’ Under 13’s

Harlow hosted Hertford today at Latton Park on a day where 9 squad members were unavailable due to a school trip, however we welcomed Joseph Pankhurst for his long-awaited debut.
This was our teams’ maiden game on the 1st XV pitch and the boys rose to the occasion and the opportunity that had been presented to them. A pre match briefing followed by a very well conducted warm up set Harlow up nicely and they were cheered by the support from the balcony as they ran from the changing room onto the pitch.
As a coach you work throughout the season with your squad hoping that one day everything that you have coached comes together and the boys show the potential that you know they have… Well today was that day.

From the first whistle our redmen were terrific. Harlow had possession of the ball for minutes at a time,
patiently going through phase after phase of play until their relentless pressure presented an opening for an opportunity to score.
An immaculately performed dummy from Pankhurst on his debut gave him space to run in before he offloaded to Stovell who unselfishly passed to Hewlett to score in the corner for Harlow’s first try.

A second try shortly followed after a neat 10/12 switch Tolu found a hole in the defence and once, he was away Hertford had no chance of stopping him. Jamie Oliver who really had the bit between his teeth today was rewarded for his constant support of the team and following a tackle he was quickest to react to pick the all up and run in his first try for a while.

Next up was Billington who had a fantastic game around the breakdown and showed his newly found jackaling skills stole the ball at the breakdown in the opposition 22 and went over the line for Harlow’s fourth try. Pankhurst made another fantastic break and when he was tackled just short of the line, he
executed a fantastic off load to Felix Waugh who was in support to score his first ever try. Harlow with
fantastic work from Goodyer, won EVERY scrum bar one against the head turned over a scrum in their own 22 where the Pankhurst/Tolu partnership again resulted in a fantastic try for Tolu.

Half Time 30-0

At the start of the second half Harlow had soaked up some Hertford pressure in their own 22, but following a turnover at the ruck had the confidence to pass the ball through the backs where Hewlett, when coming on to the ball at full pace tore along the wing from his own 22 and no one could get anywhere near him, and absolute lightning bolt of a try left the Harlow supporters in raptures. Pankhurst made a try for himself to cap a magnificent debut performance before Stovell and Levy got in on the act to both score two well deserved tries following passing between the backs.

Final score 50-0

An outstanding performance from the Redman this morning who fully deserve all the plaudits they received in the clubhouse after. A despondent Hertford coach commented that his team weren’t used to a performance of that standard and Geoff Hargreaves who has refed nearly every game went out of his way to comment on how well they boys work together as a team, particularly around the breakdown and how impress he was at the mornings performance.

Well done RedMen your coaches and parents are as proud as punch.

Harlow: Waugh, Goodyer, Williams, Jaques, Billington, Oliver, Eynon, Pankhurst, Ajibabi, Stovell (c), Hewlett, Pite, Levy.
Subs R Eynon, Morgan, Jackson
Man of the Match: Callum Hewlett
Special Mentions: EVERY PLAYER

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