Determined Owls Will Bounce Back

The game started with both teams playing open rugby despite the wet conditions and within the first five minutes the Owls scored. Quick ball from a ruck saw Annalise Allan break through the home defence before sprinting in under the post for a try that she then converted.

The home team responded strongly and spent the next few minutes in the Harwich half. A scrum in the visitors 22 saw the ball fed to Yas Amber who feigned a clearance kick before charging upfield, crashing through a couple of cover tackles, to score under the posts. Allan again converted.

With Harwich dominating in the scrums and winning the line out battle, Stanford changed their tactics. They went from an open game to using their big, strong running forwards to carry the game to the Owls. Constant pick and drives from rucks reduced their handling errors and put the Harwich defence on the back foot. Twice in quick succession the home forwards tied in the Owls’ forwards leaving space for their support runners to score. Harwich re-asserted themselves and started to put pressure on the home side but just before half time some dubious rucking tactics saw Stanford with a turnover at a ruck and moved the ball quickly to score. 17 - 14 to the home team at halftime.

From the kick off for the second half the ball was fed to Kimberley Hutchins who sliced through the cover defence to score a great try that Allan converted. The home side continued with their very aggressive forwards taking the game to the Owls and only some great tackling from the Owls kept them out. The visitors began to wilt under the pressure of such strong, direct running and aggressive rucking and conceded 4 tries in the last twenty minutes.

The Owls will have hopefully learned a lot from this game and to their credit demonstrated great determination in the face of power and intimidation.

Report by Walter Blacker