Harwich and Dovercourt 44 Norwich Crusaders 17

By scoring six trys past their opponents Harwich and Dovercourt have now scored 17 trys during their last three league matches.

However, Harwich didn’t have everything their own way. Within 5 minutes Crusaders were 7-0 up when they scored a breakaway try under the posts after some over elaboration in the Harwich midfield. This galvanised Harwich who responded with a penalty by Sam Male soon after. With Crusaders missing their own penalty Harwich upped the tempo.

With ten minutes gone a quick penalty by Mills let Joe Francis stroll in for a try which put Harwich 8-7 ahead. Although Harwich had much of the first half play they couldn’t extend their lead until some bizarre luck near the end of the first half. With Male taking another penalty the ball rebounded off both uprights back into the Crusader’s 22, Mayhew then retrieved the ball for H&D. Harwich went on to take advantage of the unorganised Crusaders defence, shipping the ball wide to Male to score under the posts. This time Male made certain of the conversion from the touch line to put Harwich 15-7 up at halftime.

The second half saw Crusaders reply with a penalty to make the score 15-10. Again Harwich came bouncing back in the form of Jason Hatcher who scored another good try which was converted by Male. Harwich were now 22-10 ahead and looking for the bonus point try. This was achieved when Simon Palmer picked up Harwich's fourth try. The ever impressive Palmer peeled off a Harwich maul from 5 yards out to then power his way over the line. 29-10

Crusaders were still resilient at this point and were rewarded with a converted try, the visitors scrum half took a quick tap penalty to set up a try under the posts. 29-17

Soon after Harwich increased their score to 32 points with a Sam Male penalty from 30 yards, 32-17.

Even though Harwich had already picked up the try scoring bonus point they were still looking to score more points. With ten minutes left on the clock Kyle Hutchins put the Crusaders full back under pressure with a high kick, an aggressive chase from Steven Tucker and George Brunning left the full back isolated and forced a penalty five yards out for H&D. The Harwich forwards took the ball on from the penalty and set a platform for prop Paul Sewell to out muscle the defence and cross the line from five yards out. Male converted. 39-17

Harwich's desire to kill off their opponents was clear during the final 10 minutes by constantly putting Crusaders under pressure with running rugby.

With the last play of the game Keir Blacker caught the Crusaders back row napping from the scrum. Blacker stepped the flanker to break the Crusaders defence, the scrum half then went on to commit the full back and assist Jay Hatcher for his seventh try of the season.

Harwich have a break from league duties next week when they host Eastern Counties League 2 outfit Thurston in the Suffolk Plate. 2.15 Kick off.