Harwich rugby entertained Mersea Island rugby at Low Road on Saturday in round seven of the Essex 1 League. This was expected to be a tough battle, with the sides sitting fifth and third respectively in the league. The early exchanges proved this correct with both sets of forwards ripping into each other from the off. The backs imposed themselves as well at every opportunity running the ball hard at the opposition. These initial forays were defended very well, with both teams defences standing up to the tasks, which set the tone for this game. After the first quarter of an hour Harwich, with the wind behind them were able to gain and hold onto some territorial advantage. The Mersea forwards in their enthusiasm to repel their hosts infringed at a ruck giving Harwich the opportunity to take the lead. Fullback Sam Male stepped up and kicked the three points in blustery conditions.The slender lead was like nectar to the Harwich forwards as they began to dominate both the scrums and the line outs. The home side had a sustained period of pressure in the Mersea 22 metre area. Despite some fantastic defence from the visitors it was the Harwich forwards that managed to overpower this defensive effort with open side wing forward Gareth Sanders-Crook squeezing over for the five pointer. With the wind swirling the conversion was missed by Male. Harwich 8 - Mersea 0. The home side continued to pressure the opposition but at times ‘white line fever’ took over rather than playing to the structure, which saw the Mersea defence win these exchanges. So half time arrived with Harwich leading by 8 - 0.

The second half started where the first left off, with the Harwich forwards continuing to dominate the set piece. The windy conditions however favoured the away team and they used the conditions to dominate territory, putting Harwich under increasing pressure. With a good break by the Mersea centre, the opposition swept into the hosts 22 and were soon celebrating a good try scored near to the posts. The conversion was simple bringing them back into the game 8 - 7. Harwich responded to this setback effectively, by keeping to their structure and gaining some field position. Keeping hold of the ball and making some inroads the forwards again battled into opposition territory. Under such pressure the Mersea forwards gave away a penalty just outside the 22 metre area. Sam Male stepped up to take the penalty. Keeping the ball low and using the wind to assist he slotted the ball over for the three points. Harwich 11 - Mersea 7. The last quarter of the game belonged to the fantastic defensive effort made by the home team. Everyone of them stepped up to repel everything the opposition threw at them. Even with winger Chuck Heeney being sin binned with 5 minutes to go for lying on the ball at a ruck, leaving 14 players to see out the final few minutes, Harwich showed some wonderful determination and intensity to prevent Mersea scoring.

Prop and pack leader Paul Sewell, grumpy as ever, gave a word of warning, “It was a good defensive effort by the lads today, which we will need to show again next week. Hopefully with our traditional pre-game coffee stop we can turn Stanford over”.

This win leaves Harwich & Dovercourt in fifth place, but with Writtle Wanderers having an away walk over, Mersea dropped to fourth on the same points as Harwich.

Next week Harwich & Dovercourt RUFC travel to league leaders Stanford-le-Hope for an important fixture.