Harwich and Dovercourt 29 Woodbridge 6

On a hot autumn day, Harwich came out of the starting blocks at pace.

In the first two minutes the intensity of the Harwich game plan had Woodbridge on the back foot. A difficult penalty was missed by Sam Male but Harwich had put their stamp on the game. After 14 minutes a Harwich try was disallowed for a forward pass. Even with these frustrations Harwich kept their frustrations in bay. At the same time Woodbridge were battling hard. A break which seemed like a certain try only failed due to a knock on.

It took 25 minutes before Harwich opened the scoring. Off the back of a scrum on the halfway line scrum half Simon Keen passed to the winger and man of the match Kyle Hutchins. Hutchins ran through the Woodbridge defence fending off tackles and finished superbly under the posts. Male converted the try putting Harwich 7-0 up.

It was only minutes later, however, that Harwich let Woodbridge back into the game when they were awarded a penalty. But again Harwich applied pressure when Robert Wood made a great run passing to Jay Hatcher who then fed the ball to Hutchins. He chipped the ball over the Woodbridge defence to score in the corner. With the conversion missed Harwich went in at half time 12-3 ahead.

The second half started much like the first with Harwich firing on all cylinders and being awarded a penalty in the first minute. At 15-3 up Harwich might have thought they were comfortable but Woodbridge came back again within minutes slotting another penalty over to bring the score back to 15-6. The play became more intense with Woodbridge sensing that there might be something in the game for them. Harwich skipper Sean Mills and his centre partner Adrian Dalby worked tirelessly in an effort to break Woodbridge down.

Halfway through the second half Woodbridge were awarded three penalties within minutes of each other. All were missed but this was a wakeup call for Harwich. With ten minutes remaining Sean Mills Jnr made a dynamic run fed Hatcher who again took the ball on. The ball went out to Hutchins who fed in Nick Faliveno to score. With the try converted Harwich were destined to win the game. Now all that was needed was the vital, fourth, bonus point try.

With tension mounting, time running out and Woodbridge still unyielding it wasn’t until the final minutes that Harwich scored. From a scrum 10 metres out Ed Mayhew fed in Hatcher who took the ball and the Woodbridge defence on to score by the posts. With the try converted Harwich had their precious bonus point and had won the game 29-6. A hard fought but well deserved win.