Date: Sun 10th Feb 2019

Time: 11:00am

Match Report

Sunday 10th February –Basildon u13s 50 Harlow u13s 15 – Cup

Harlow travelled to Basildon this week the weather was a little rainy and a little damp. Our fair weather players didn’t start the game in the form they are capable of.

We started the game with a little to and fro and Basildon broke to score their first try. We then entered a period where Harlow put some pressure on the opposition and drove into their half. Unfortunately some loose carrying meant the ball was split in the tackle and Basildon quickly moved the ball wide and score from deep in their own half.

From the kick off we were caught napping as they caught the ball and ran straight back to score their third try as we seemed to drop off tackles. This was a pattern that continued for the rest of the half as Basildon ran in another four tries without much tackle resistance from us.

Something that was going well for us was our scrummage, we continued to put the pressure on which is something our front row of Jacob, Archie and Ed should take great pride in.

Half time 35-0

In the second half we started much better, some changes saw Tolu Ajibabi on for his debut, Will Pite on the wing for the first time and Rhys Eynon on the pitch. As Basildon attacked from the kick off a great tackle from Rhys put their big fella into touch, from the resulting tap, Tolu went on the rampage very much putting Harlow on the front foot. This momentum saw a number of boys carry hard and Danny Billington crash over for our first try.

Harlow were in their purple patch at this point with many carries and we were holding onto the ball much better in contact creating much more continuity of play.

This continuity put Montelle, who was playing in a new position of fly half find a bit of space and touch down for our second try.

Some wonderful strong ball carrying gave Tolu an opportunity to breakthrough scaring people as well as boshing people out of the way on the way to scoring a debut try.

At this point Basildon brought back on a powerful number 3 who has been a powerful disrupter for Basildon in the first half, he brought a physicality to the Basildon play that we struggled to live with.

Harlow had their heads up and were more determined and we put in some heavy tackles, Callum Hewett put in a monster hit to stop a certain try.

That said Basildon found three tries in the late stage of the game which meant the second half was drawn 15-15.

Final Score 50 -15.

The learning points from today are: 1. Turn up and start the game on your terms. 2. There is a team against us who will do what they can to stop us. We need to work harder for the ball and then look after it when we have it. If we could resolve these points the outcome of this game would have been very different.

Harlow Man of the Match: Tolu Ajibabi and Callum Hewett
Tries: Danny Billington, Montelle Levy, Tolu Ajibabi
Referee: From Basildon

Team
1. Jacob Morgan, 2. Archie Goodger (Captain), 3. Ed Lea, 4. Brandon Jackson, 5. Charlie Jacques (Sub Tolu Ajibabi), 8. Jamie Oliver 9. Jack Rushworth. 10. Montelle Levy, 11. Joe Court (Sub Rhys Eynon), 12. Owen Eynon, 13. Danny Billington, 14. Callum Hewett (Sub Will Pite), 15. Freddie Adams