Harwich Win Away at Ipswich

Harwich kicked off into a very strong wind which would make passing and kicking difficult all day. After a slow start Harwich began to take control of the game with the Harwich scrum dominating their larger opponents which allowed Shaun Fox to release the young backs. After some sustained pressure Robert Edgar scored Harwich’s first try on the left hand side of the field. Tommy Kite then added to his try tally by sliding in the right corner after a well worked backs move.

Then what followed was a try that had even the Ipswich supporters applauding. Edgar broke down the right side of the pitch from 50m out, side-stepping his way around the defence, he then chipped ahead, regathered his kick and passed to Josh Jones, who then avoided a couple of would-be tacklers to then pass back to Edgar who dummied the last two defenders to score, Adam Eldridge converted, 17-0 Harwich. Another try to Kite and Ipswich were rattled.

Player/coach Shane Manning then scored a fine team try, managing to avoid two defenders as he ran in from 20 metres. Ipswich then had a purple patch for 5 minutes where they scored an unconverted try. Harwich responded immediately and Kyran Green scored a converted try to give Harwich a 34-5 half time lead.

The second half started as the first had finished with Harwich dominating. However due to determined Ipswich defence and Harwich players playing as individuals it would be a while until the halftime score was added to.

When Harwich finally did start to attack as a team again 18 year old Jones scored a fine try after stepping his way through the Ipswich defence, Eldridge converting to take the score to 41-5. Ipswich threw everything they had at the Harwich try-line, but the Harwich defence was too strong and forced Ipswich to concede an intercept which was gathered by Green who ran 95 metres, evading the chasing Ipswich defence to score his second try of the day, Eldridge converting.

Then from the restart Edgar gathered a mis-placed kick-off and ran in his third try of the day, Eldridge converting giving Harwich a 55-5 away win.

There were stand out performances from Edgar, Kite and Man of the Match Dave Fitch. Harwich have another away game this Saturday when they travel to 4th placed Hadleigh in what will be a hard physical encounter. Harwich will need to play as a team for the whole 80 minutes if they want to come away with the points.

Match report by Shane Manning