Harwich & Dovercourt 50 - Broadland 5

All credit should go to this side who haven’t won a game this season but still made Harwich fight for every ball. But Harwich were too good by displaying some excellent handling and fine moves.

The opening score came in the tenth minute with Harwich starting to apply pressure. After a number of rucks the ball was fed to Jay Hatcher, who is enjoying a dynamic season, to score by the posts. With the Harwich back row of Simon Palmer, Jack Cairns and Robert Edgner making tackles and picking up loose ball all over the park it became apparent that it would be a long afternoon for Broadlands.

The second try came in the 15th minute when hooker Shane Manning drove on with the ball. Scrum half Simon Keen passed it on to Hatcher whose quick pass to Kier Blacker was equally quickly released to Rob Wood who again slipped the ball to Rob Nicoll who ran in to score under the posts. A fine try where forwards and backs linked superbly. The try was converted by Sam Male putting Harwich 12-0 ahead.

A few minutes later the Broadlands number 5 was yellow carded. A quick penalty saw Hatcher make another fine run and pass which put winger Blacker in for another good try. The bonus point try came a few minutes later when Male joined the line and fed the ball to Kieran Phelan, who had a classy game in the centres, to get his first try for the club after a long injury. With Male converting Harwich were 24-0 up. But Broadlands didn’t let their heads drop and managed a push over try by the posts just before half time making the score 24-5.

Within 10 minutes of the restart a well worked Harwich lineout saw Nicoll run in for his second try of the afternoon. Male converted and there was no way back in the game for Broadlands. With Harwich eager to get points on the board a quick penalty from the Harwich stand off and man of the match Kyle Hutchins, saw the Harwich skipper Sean Mills Jnr drive over the line from ten yards. With Male converting again Harwich were ahead 36-5.

Even when Harwich lost Phelan to a yellow card they kept up the intensity. Palmer caught the ball in his own half and made one of his thunderous runs up the field with Broadlands players bouncing off him the ball was offloaded to Rob Simkins who ran half the length of the field to score under the posts. Male converted again to put the score up to 43-5.

Another scintillating try came after Sean Mills Jnr had made a bone crunching tackle in the middle of the field and won the ball. Keen fed the ball to Hutchins who kicked on into open space behind the Broadlands defence. His speed saw him reaching the ball first and kicking on again into the try area. Again he won the race to the ball and scored by the posts. It was left to Male to finish the scoring by converting the try making the final score 50-5.

With this result and the bonus point Harwich retain third place in the league.