Harwich & Dovercourt 15 West Norfolk 12

Bolstered by the return of Joe Francis, for the first time this season and Max Cochrane, Harwich began to play their old creative rugby. The inclusion of the veteran Michael Scarfe at no.8 went a long way to adding some iron to the Harwich forwards.

With the fierce wind behind them it took only five minutes before Harwich had some points on the board when Sam Male extended his superb season with the boot by notching up yet another penalty. However, Harwich were not going to have it all their own way with the big Norfolk forwards giving them a difficult time in the middle of the park.

What was evident was the creativity in the backs in the Harwich back line. The old confidence was begging to creep back into their game. After 20 mintues a move involving all the back line allowed Nick Faliveno to finish a good move on the opposite wing. Male converted the try and Harwich were 10-0 up.

West Norfolk didn't rest and came back a bit later with their own forwards try scored in the corner. at 10-5 up at half time Harwich knew that they were still in a game with a lot of work to do. With the wind and slope against them in the second half Harwich were made to work hard. And although Norfolk pressed hard they just couldn't break down the stubborn Harwich defence. Harwich got their reward after several phases from the Harwich pack the ball was fed out to Jack Hale, who fixed the last defender assisting substitute Keir Balcker, who finished superbly in the corner. The conversion was missed and Harwich were 15-5 up.

West Norfolk managed to rally towards the end and scored their own converted try to bring the scores back to 15-12 and make it an exciting finally to the game. But Harwich managed to hang on and in the topsy turvy world of this seasons league now find themselves moving up the league table and more importantly begin to find the self belief and confidence they have been lacking at times before the Christmas break.