Stanford Sirens 25-32 Harwich & Dovercourt Owls

Stanford Sirens 25-32 Harwich & Dovercourt Owls, January 5th 2020.

Harwich & Dovercourt Owls travelled to Stanford Le Hope on Sunday to face a strong Sirens side after the holiday break.
With The Owls again short on numbers a real Herculean effort would be needed and inspired by captain Di Wood they did not disappoint.
Stanford early pressure kept Harwich pinned back inside their half until a scrum on the 5m line gave The Owls chance to clear with a great kick from Yas Amber, Sian Smith stole the resulting line out and with quick recycled ball Jodie ‘QD’ Teale rounded the last defenders to touch down for the first points, a missed conversion put The Owls in the lead 5-0.
Within minutes Harwich doubled their lead, Stanford put a good kick into the Harwich 22m which was their undoing, fullback Yas Amber picked up the loose ball and charged downfield eventually she was tackled on halfway, fly half Dani Allsopp soon had Harwich going forwards again when Carmel Leak cut a fantastic line in the Stanford defence, with the ball 5m out Genevieve Croll quickly moved the ball left and Jodie Teale burst over for a double and a 10-0 lead.
Stanford rallied and after they were awarded a scrum on halfway, sharp thinking by their fly half found a big space in The Owls defence caused by short numbers, they recovered the kick and forced the ball over the line to score, the conversion missed but they were on the scoreboard 10-5.
Harwich replied almost instantly when Beth Lemessurier made a superb blindside break off of a ruck, with The Sirens defence in tatters from fast phase ball they conceded a penalty which Mimi Montgomery took quickly and a couple of phases later she was also on hand to pick and go from a ruck to force the score, another missed conversion put Harwich up 15-5.
With the short numbers giving Harwich issues the resulting kick off wasn’t collected and Stanford recovered it, after pushing Harwich back a final pass caught the narrow defence out and resulted in the final score of the half after a missed conversion but The Owls were 15-10 up.
With Harwich now attacking downhill, tactics changed and they started to exploit a tiring Sirens side by kicking for territory, The Sirens were awarded a pen 5m out from their line, again fullback Yas Amber returned the kick after it failed to make touch and her pass found Carmel Leak who was tackled 5m out, quick heads up play by Mimi Montgomery saw her catch out the Sirens defence as she forced her way over the line for her second try of the game, Dani Allsopp converted and Harwich were 22-10 up.
The Owls soon increased their lead when Yas Amber picked up the ball from a stray Sirens pass, a chip over the defence gave her a head start over the covering defenders and with the ball bobbling along the ground Amber hacked it on again to sprint clear and touch down for the try, another failed conversion gave The Owls a 27-10 lead.
With the kicking game in full flow Dani Allsopp put a huge clearing kick over The Sirens defensive line and with Carmel Leak in hot pursuit the two covering defenders managed to bump each other off the ball leaving an appreciative Leak to scoop up the lose ball and score, it was not a day for conversions despite still weather but a 32-10 Owls lead looked unassailable.
As the game moved on the short numbers for The Owls were made worse when Mimi Montgomery was forced to leave the game through injury, this gave Stanford the impetus they needed and with gaps and a tiring Owls defence they ran in three scores, none of which were converted, strong tackling by Di Wood, Sian Smith and the will to win kept The Owls in front to take the bonus point win 32-25 and keep them in the chase for the division title.
The Owls travel to local rivals Woodbridge on Sunday 12th for their next match.