Date: Sun 19th Jan 2020

Time: 12:30pm

Match Report

Sunday 19th January – Maldon u14s 34 Harlow u14s 26: Friendly

Today we travelled to Maldon on a sunny, cold winter morning. We haven’t played Maldon for some time, with Maldon having similar results this season we were looking forward to a good game of rugby and we weren’t disappointed.

The first half kicked off with Maldon quickly on the front foot and working the Harlow defence. We were sloppy and Maldon crossed the line the line for an unconverted try.

Maldon were ready to play and took on the Harlow players, our defence in the guts wasn’t as strong as it should have been and Maldon broke through to score near the posts which was converted and they took a 12-0 lead.

At this point Harlow started to wake from a lack lustre start, the tempo had be raised by a few quick penalties by scrum half Jack Rushworth he put Ben Ferrier onto the ball at pace and challenged the Maldon defence. He broke through and score try which Joseph Pankhurst stepped up to slot. 12-7.

Harlow were now engaged in the game and having a lot of the play, on one of the attacks we unfortunately gave an intercepted pass which resulted in a try and the score moving to 17-7.

Harlow continued with the offensive mind-set and from a driven line out with a few players carrying the ball in close then centre Ben Ferrier broke through the middle to score his second try. Tobie Westbrook calmly slotted the conversion. 17-14.

Harlow had grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck at this point and broke down the left hand side of the pitch. Captain Henry Stovell worked a little space and score out wide to take the half time score to a slender 17-19 lead for Harlow.

Half time 17 – 19.

At half time, the players talked about protecting the ball at the break down, working hard and keeping focus.

With half time arriving at a time when Harlow were keen to keep going, they soon picked up the mantle in the second half. Tempo and speed of play was giving Harlow the edge. From a tap penalty Jack Rushworth played Danny Billington and a few drives from forwards and Max Bien found himself ball in hand and crashing over the line. Tobie Westbrook converted taking the score to 17-26.

As we entered the final quarter, Maldon were keen to get their game back on track and they upped the tempo. From a tap penalty of their own they forged a try taking the score to 22-26. This game was not done yet.

As Harlow were defending their own line out, we won a line out close to their line. As we tried to carry the ball out we knocked on and they shifted the ball to where we weren’t and scored out wide. 27-26.

With just a point in it both teams were trying to rush the game. From a scrum on our ball, unusually we lost the ball on our own put in and they broke down the blind side, a couple of pick and goes and Maldon scored the final try of the game which they converted to take the final score to 34-26.

This game could have gone either way with the result in the balance right to the end, a cracking game of rugby.

Final Score 34 – 26.

Harlow worked hard today without a number of players not available through injury, illness or school trips. The players worked hard in the performance which is applauded, the challenge is to keep this going from the start and throughout the game.

In training this week, we need to work on our scrummaging under pressure and receiving kick offs.

Special mentions: Callum Boyce fantastic work rate, Tobie Westbrook some excellent last man in defence tackles, Max Bien gave his all, Joseph Pankhurst a mature performance, Owen Eynon out injured with a broken thumb but came to watch and ran touch.
Harlow Man of the Match: Not awarded this week
Tries: Ben Ferrier (2), Henry Stovell, Max Bien
Conversions: Joseph Pankhurst, Tobie Westbrook (2)
Penalties: None
Referee: From Maldon

Team
1. Felix Waugh (Sub Max Bien), 2. Callum Boyce (Sub Charlie Jacques), 3. Joseph Williams (Sub Jacob Morgan), 4. Brandon Jackson, 5. Ed Lea, 6. Corey Kelman, (Sub Freddie Adams), 7. George Snowdon, 8. Danny Billington, 9. Jack Rushworth, 10. Joseph Pankhurst, 11. Joe Court, 12. Ben Ferrier, 13. Henry Stovell, 14. Callum Hewett, 15. Tobie Westbrook

All players played half a game or more.