Date: Sun 3rd Sep 2017

Time: 11.00am

Match Report

Our first game of the season. We tried a few different starting positions today and so did Thurrock so it was more like a training season, but it didn’t diminish the quality of the play.
The game started very well for us. Alex Perry had good kick which pushed Thurrock back to their own 5m line. They tried to play the ball out from the backs. Connor Ingram saw what they were planning and intercepted the pass scoring just left of the posts. Unfortunately, Connor was not successful with the conversion.

It was not long before Thurrock were on the score sheet themselves. We missed too many tackles and it was easy for them to score.  It wasn’t long before Thurrock scored again. Again this was by us not holding our positions and missing tackle. The game then went backwards and forwards with some really good play from both teams especially with this being the first game of the season for both teams.  We started to show what we are good at. Good forward play and good support play from the backs.

Then came the first yellow card of the match.  A Thurrock player tackled too high resulting in a yellow card. We then managed to make our way to Thurrock try line but were held up. But even with us having one extra player, Thurrock managed to score just before half time.

Half Time: 15 – 5

The second half started with Harlow camping for long periods of time in the Thurrock half.  We had chances to score ourselves but we either knocked on or ran out of room. We then lost Ewan Taplin through injury resulting in switching thing round. Dan Keane took Ewan’s position as hooker and we switched wingers around.  Thurrock managed to score another try on a break.  Score 20-5. We then managed to score ourselves. From our line out at the Thurrock 25m line., there was a great catch and pass from Ollie Partridge who offloaded to Owen Higgins who then ran into contact. We set up a maul which resulted in Dan Keane running for the try line, offloading to Jack Johnson just before he was tackled. Unfortunately, Jack knocked the ball but fortunately backwards allowing us to play on. George Garner managed to pick the ball off the floor and ran over the line. With a successful conversion from Alex Perry, the score was 20 -12.

Unfortunately for Harlow it was our turn for a yellow card. Dan Keane had been caught offside too many times for the ref’s liking.  With minutes to go, Thurrock scored for the last time.  We again were asleep.

Final score 25-12

A good game all round and a big thank you to our hosts. They made us feel very welcome.  And a big thanks to the ref Colin. He was fair to both sides.  We have quite a few things to work on before our league game against Romford next weekend. But saying that, it wasn’t a bad effort by the Harlow squad.

Team: Leo Roach, Ewan Taplin, Peter Watt, Joel Holding, Owen Higgins, Ollie Partridge, Edward Obeney, George Garner (c), George Gazzard, Alex Perry, Callum Wright, Conner Ingram, Dan Keane, Sam Collins, Conner Clark, Loui McArdell, Logan Thurgood, Daniel McKenzie, Jack Johnson, Jay Evans and Cameron Howard.