H&D Owls 12 - Bury Foxes 10

Harwich & Dovercourt Owls played their local rivals in the first round of the Women’s Junior Cup at a very wet Low Road. From the kick off it was clear the the home side were up for the challenge, pinning the visitors in their own half through powerful scrummaging and solid defensive work.

Good runs by Annalise Allan and Kimberley Hutchins took the Owls close to scoring but good cover tackles by the Foxes defence kept the Owls out. On a rare excursion into the home team’s 22 the Foxes moved the ball too quickly for the Harwich covering defence and they dived over for the first try of the game.

Harwich again took the game to the visitors. By now the home side were not only dominating in the scrums but were also winning most line outs. Eventually the pressure told and after a strong run by Hutchins was stopped on the try line, the ball bobbled out of the ruck and Allan reacted quickest to dive on it for a try which she also converted.

The visitors started to look more dangerous with their talented fly half making in roads into the Owls defence and freeing up the Foxes back line but the home side’s strong tackling soon snuffed out the threats. By halftime Harwich were up 7 -5.
The second Half saw Harwich dominate the game territorially but were unable to break down a well organised defence. The Harwich pack now took the game to Bury and strong running and good rucking kept the visitors pinned in their own half. When they did break from the stranglehold the Foxes found full back Yas Amber in top tackling form, stopping a couple of breaks with bone crunching tackles.

With 5 minutes to go another quick break from her own half by the visitor’s number 10 scattered the home defence and from the ruck she quickly fed the ball wide for a try. 7 - 10 to the visitors against the run of play. The home side immediately went on the attack. A powerful run up the middle by Abi Cutts took Harwich close again. For the next three minutes they were camped in the visitors 22 and from a tapped penalty by Amber were again stopped just short of the try line. However, quick recycling saw Naomi Dobner go closer and the ball was then moved out to Sophia Tricker to charge over for the score. The final minute saw some frantic defending by the home side to secure a great victory.