Harwich were on the back foot from the kick off as the visitors demonstrated great skill in setting phase after phase of aggressive forward drives. The Owls’ defence held firm through excellent organisation and fierce tackling. When the home side did clear their lines the visitors came back at them but wave after wave of attack by Medway was repelled by the home side.

Medway kept up the pressure and eventually outnumbered the home defence to score wide in the corner. The rest of the first half saw Medway camped in the Harwich half of the field and mostly inside Owls’ 22 but could not find a way through such a resolute defensive line. The halftime whistle blew with the home side still under pressure but only down 0 - 5.

The second half started in similar fashion with the home side having to defend against the continual pick and drive of the Medway side. The set pieces were evenly matched but the big difference was, however, that Harwich were now getting to the breakdowns quicker and disrupting the visitors’ attacking platform. Abi Cutts, Naomi Dobner and Bron Skipworth turned over several rucks and with the Owls now gaining more possession, began to assert themselves an attacking force as well. Using handling skills rather than trying to match the visitors physically was putting the home side in ascendancy and were spending more time in the visitors’ half. A good break by fly half Mimi Montgomery saw the ball go along the back line and a neatly timed pass from Lauren Richardson put full back Yas Amber clear down the wing only to see her tackled just short of the line. Although Medway were able to clear this attack it was a sign of things to come.

Another good handling move on the back of some sterling work by the forwards saw Kimberley Hutchins nip through a space in the defensive before releasing Annalise .Allan to sprint in for a try that she also converted. From the restart Harwich were quickly back on the attack. Hutchins again found some space before passing to a looping Montgomery who made some great ground before being tackled but Hutchins supported superbly to scoop up the ball and run from halfway to score a try that Allan again converted.
Medway again tried to apply pressure and attempted to expand their game but could still not find a way through the defensive wall in front of them. From a scrum inside the Harwich half, the ball was again passed brilliantly through the back line to Amber who ran in to score a try with the last move of the match. Once Allan converted it the final whistle blew to give the Owls the victory and Medway their first defeat of the season.

If ever the old adage that “defence wins matches” needs proof, then this performance is it. The combination of a ferocious passion, teamwork and fearsome tackling also proved another saying in rugby… backs score tries, forwards win the match!