Leighton Buzzard 0 Harwich & Dovercourt Owls 50

Despite the long journey and the late arrival, Harwich & Dovercourt Owls continued their recent run of good form with an emphatic victory in their league match.

The lack of a proper warm up showed in the first ten minutes with basic errors limiting their progress but once they began to put a series of plays together, the Owls started to show their superiority. A good handling move from the backs sent winger Hannah Martin away and with a well timed offload put Kimberley Hutchins in for the first try.

The forwards also began to dominate the scrums and lineouts and the home side were having to work hard to stop the hard running of the Harwich team. When they did get the ball the Buzzards were met with strong tackling from the Owls’ pack. The Harwich backs free flowing game was now causing chaos in the Buzzards’ defence and Hutchins broke through a gap from the halfway line to score again.

The Harwich back row of Bron Skipworth, Laura Hudson and Sophia Tricker worked tirelessly to limit the space and with Abi Cutts and Nicola Kington making powerful runs the home side remained on the back foot. A superb running line from full back Yas Amber put her through the home side’s defensive line and after a good mazey run she touch down under the posts. The Owls scored again almost from the kick off as fly half Mimi Montgomery delayed her pass superbly to put Hutchins through for a try. Half time score of 26 - 0 to the Harwich side.

Leighton Buzzard came out strongly in the second half and made steady progress toward the Harwich line through a series of good phases combined with some ill-discipline from the Owls. The defence held firm on their own line and the Buzzards conceded a penalty allowing Harwich to clear their lines. Montgomery made a good break from just inside the home side’s half and bulldozed her way through a couple of defenders to score. This was followed by a brace of tries from Amber, one of which was from her own 22. By this time Harwich were playing with some abandon, to the stage where Tasha Bray and Di Woods manufactured themselves into the position of being on the wing. Unfortunately the two props were unable to manufacture the speed required in that position.

Another excellent piece of teamwork saw Montgomery putting Hutchins clear with a well timed pass to finish the scoring.
This victory now puts Harwich & Dovercourt only one point behind the League leaders so the pressure is now on to continue this run of victories.