HARLOW 24 – 22 SOUTHWOLD

Match Report written by David Vaughan.
What an advert for English club rugby this was with the game played at full tilt, in good spirit, with great skill and both sets of players nearly out on their feet by the end.
It was impossible to tell who was going to win at any stage of the game as the lead changed hands and both teams dominated for different spells of the game and although Harlow were in front at the whistle, in a strange way they hardly celebrated as even they knew neither side really deserved to lose. Above all else Rugby had been the real winner on the day.
Harlow started the stronger with the advantage of the slope and the wind and having camped in the Wold twenty two for several minutes eventually went over for their first try wide on the left with an impressive swallow dive from their outside centre, but Wold replied soon after with Ben Haddingham converting a penalty for offside to make the score 5 – 3 to Harlow at the end of the first quarter.
Wold then began to dominate up front and the territorial advantage began to swing in their favour, and twice in the next five minutes they all but scored tries on two occasions, both from forward drives and looked even more sure to score when James Barton made a great break and kick ahead only to be thwarted by some great covering from his opposite right winger. Haddingham then made a great kick up the left touchline but the chase was ill timed and from nearly their own twenty two Harlow scored a great try when the initial tackle was missed and the winger stepped inside, made thirty or forty metres before two great offloads saw a fantastic counter attacking try in the right hand corner and with the conversion good Harlow extended their lead to 12 – 3.
The game them seemed to be going Harlow’s way when on the half hour their fly half kicked over the Wold back line out to the right where they managed to gather the ball and recycle it across the pitch to the left and a great timed run by a second row forward saw another super try as he burst through to score but surprisingly the kick was missed from pretty near to the posts.
At that point the game again turned and Wold dominated for the rest of the half and five minutes before half time Wold were awarded a penalty in the Harlow twenty two and kicked for touch in the corner
Sam Webb took the ball beautifully at the back of the line and the resulting gather and drive saw Jonny Clarke touch down for a vital try which Ben Haddingham duly converted from wide on the right and the score then remained at 17 – 10 to the home team until half time. The score would have moved even more in Wold’s favour, as they had one of their best periods of the game but for a Sam Webb just failing to hang on to a low pass five metres out on the actual stroke of time at the end of the first half
Wold’s tails were well and truly up and straight from the whistle they carried on their dominance and within two minutes of the restart, the ref awarded them a penalty for crossing and they chose the option of a scrum. Wold won great controlled ball which saw James Hall break quickly to the blind side and he committed his marker to the tackle before passing out to Ben Balls who handed off his opposite number before crossing for a pretty simple try to reduce Harlow’s lead to a slender two points as the conversion was narrowly missed.
Still Wold dominated and within five minutes from a penalty for offside a quick tap saw James Hall darting through from the twenty two for another try and with the conversion good Wold deservedly took the lead for the first time at 17 – 22 and the home side and supporters were visibly rattled.
For the next ten minutes Wold had chances to score again but the Harlow defence albeit desperate at times stood strong, particularly when Josh Crick at centre crashed through the first tackle only to be stopped right on the try line.
Adam Smith was then yellow carded for pulling down a driving maul and that just seemed to give Harlow a glimmer of hope with the man advantage and slowly their confidence grew and on 73 minutes they were awarded a penalty in the Wold twenty two and made the brave decision to kick to the corner rather than take the three points. They won the lineout ball and quick ball along their back line and a missed tackle saw them score to the right of the posts to level the score at 22 points apiece with only five minutes left on the clock
Knowing the importance of the kick, the hushed crowd saw the conversion sail through the posts and Harlow again lead by the two point margin
Wold looked the fitter of the two teams at the end but despite trying everything the score remained 24 – 22 at the final whistle in favour of the home side.
Wold though losing can take great pride from the day, Rightly they were disappointed to lose the match, having battled back to take the lead in the second half, but such disappointment says a lot as to how far they have come in their first season in this league when you consider the strength of Harlow as a top four side.
The well deserved losing bonus point meant Wold kept their fifth spot in the league of which they should be proud
This coming Saturday see Wanstead visit the Common K O 2.00pm and let’s hope for another home win to cement that league position
MOM - Jointly to Jonny Clarke and Ben Balls
Arn the Wold !!