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Maldon 1st XV 40 Harlow 2nd XV 19 Friendly A poor performance by Harlow left them with plenty to think about for their first league game next week after a well-disciplined Maldon side beat them comprehensibly 40-19.
Harlow defended well in the first half against a side that finished 3rd in Upper Clapton’s league last year. A dubious refereeing decision let Maldon in for their first try when Maldon’s centre clearly crossed behind two players taking out two Harlow defenders for their first score 7-0. A well worked line out move saw them go over for their second try shortly after to make the score 12-0 at half time.
Harlow started to wake up in the second half and shortly after the whistle Harlow had their first score. A quick tap penalty from Darren Dunn saw him break behind Maldon’s line of defence. A switch past to L.Hodges saw him break through two tacklers to take him to within 10metres of Maldon’s try line. A quick offload to prop Joe Atwell see him charge over to score, however he must learn that we you have to run under the post’s to score not through them! Vanston with the conversion 13-7.
Harlow then started to come back into game back into the game and when the ball was played out quickly to the backs looked dangerous however from a scrum another dubious refereeing decision saw him sin-bin Stuart Wilkins for dissent leaving Harlow with fourteen men. Maldon then used this to good affect. Harlow then started to defend to close to the breakdowns leaving space out wide Maldon playing intelligently played to this and scored three tries in ten minutes to leave Harlow trailing 33-7.
As the game wore on Harlow’s superior fitness started to show yet again as the Harlow pack started to dictate things marching slowly up the pitch into Maldons half. A quick turnover ball in Maldon’s 22 saw the ball go through all the backs hands where a clever chip through by Rundall released Vanston who dove on the ball to score 33-12.
Almost immediately after Harlow’s first score Maldon turned over Harlow’s ball from a ruck and a quick counterattacking move saw their full back cross the line to score leaving the score at 40-12 with ten minutes to go.
It was pretty much one-way traffic for Harlow after that. Harlow learned, albeit to late, that quick crash ball and getting the ball quickly to the backs was causing real damage with Darren Dunn controlling things at Fly Half. It was another incisive break from Darren Dunn, after a cheeky flick pass from Cochran, that put L.Hodges through who showed great strength in holding up the ball until support arrived from Hawkins who took the ball off him to score Harlow’s third try. Vanston converted to make the final score 40-19.
Harlow will feel disappointed after this result as if they had started play quick expansive rugby from the start they could have made this game much more competitive. The teams fitness levels are good showing in the past two weeks their ability to punish teams and score tries in the last quarter of match however, Harlow must start learning quickly that they must not defend too closely to breakdowns and protect the ball a bit better if they want to go one better and win the league this year.
Tries: Atwell, Vanston, Hawkins. Conversions: Vanston (2).
Team (follow links to player profiles): Martin Clarke, Stuart Wilkins, Jo Attwell, Darran Hawkins, Robert Cochrane, Tommy Johnson, James Hodges, Andrew Quinn (Tom Kavangh), Darren Dunn, Andrew Vanston, Steve Ward, Lee Hodges (Captain), Ian Rundall, Jimmy Worthington, Alasdair Phillips (Gareth Summers). To view more match reports - click here |
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