H&D Owls 31 -17 Canterbury

From the first whistle the home team had the visitors under pressure and only stout defending kept the Owls from scoring. Quick rucking by the forwards and powerful runs from centres Kimberley Hutchins and Becky Robinson kept the pressure up but from a ball stolen at a Harwich line out, Canterbury worked their way downfield and scored the first try.

The Owls were quick to re-assert themselves and again good work from Abi Cutts and Debbie Lammond in the forwards saw Harwich out rucking the visitors near the try line causing them to give away a penalty. Yas Amber showed quick thinking and strength to take it quickly and charge over for a try.

Canterbury began to up their game and had the home side under pressure. Despite some great tackling the Owls allowed an overlap to develop and Canterbury scored in the corner. Back came the home side and good interplay between forwards and backs, combined with fast rucking saw Annalise Allan burst through the visitors defence to level the scores at 12 -12 at half- time.

Harwich began the second half well and it was not long before they took the lead. Powerful rucking saw the Owls get the ball to Hutchins who broke through two tackles before rounding the full back for a try. Canterbury responded and were soon camped in the home team’s 22. Sloppy Harwich passing saw the ball bobble over the try line and the visiting winger responded quickest to score.

Harwich used this to spur themselves on and the forwards worked incessantly to keep the Owls on the front foot. In the final minutes Kimberley Hutchins scored an almost carbon copy of her first try and from the following restart the ball found its way to Yas Amber in her own 22. She broke powered through before sprinting away to score the final try.

Whilst the try scorers and Allan with 3 conversions seem to be the heroes it must be said that this game was won with a because of an awesome team performance.