The match was a closely fought battle with both sides having opportunities but it was Halstead who managed to get some points on the board first converting a penalty opportunity to lead 3 - 0 after 5 mins. Harwich then started to go through the gears with some great attacking runs from Lewis Kerley who was making his debut for the hosts, along with Guy Williams, Joe Francis with the game being contest in the middle of the pitch it wasn’t until the half an hour mark that Harwich were the first ones to cross the line with a great try with some slick hands to pass the ball wide to man of the match Adam Palmer to pace his way all the way to the try line from just inside his own half , unfortunately he could not convert. Harwich then found themselves In their own 22 it's a scrum which the forwards worked hard to make sure it was possible to feed the ball to the veteran fly half Joe Francis with some clever evasive play managed ship the ball wide once again for Palmer who was looking particularly sharp to cross the line for a second time and also managed to add the extra points with the conversion. Harwich hadn't finished their ambitions for points which saw veteran how Francis once again demonstrate his ability to spot and exploit the gaps as he sliced through the Templars defence , with some superb support play Simon keen was there to finish the move tripping and splutter across the line for the final try of the first half. Harwich found themselves leading 17 - 3 at half time. They soon found themselves underneath their posts after Halstead managed to get a break away try but they were not able to add the conversion. Matt Green then decided it was his turn to shine as he bagged a brace of tries with powerful strong running and good vision. Only one of the conversion attempts was successful by Ryan Boyne. Halstead rallied with some strong attacking play which saw them cross the line again for a converted try and soon added another has Harwich lost direction. Then Halstead centre Ed Merry crossed the line with a text book show and go dummy and the conversion was added this left the score at 27 -29 to the hosts.

Under pressure Harwich introduced to the game Lee Durrant to make his debut for the club they also saw Mike Cowley have a little hiccup in his strong performance ending up with a trip to the sin bin reducing the home side to fourteen men for the remainder of the game.

With all to play for both sides raised the intensity but with Harwich having territorial advantage were awarded a penalty in front of the post and wasted no time the kicking for the points, full back Palmer keeping his composure to put the host 5 points in front. With one of Halstead players getting frustrated and infringing, this saw him dispatched to the sin bin leaving both teams to finish the game a man down.

This wasn't the end for Harwich with some hard graft being done by the forwards Sean Mills, Andy Bray, Mark Sanders Crook, Clark Simpson in the break down once again gain territory this coupled with some powerful running by Guy Harris, Richard Miller, and Clark Simpson saw Harris cross the line in his first game back after a break from the sport to secure a hard earned victory Harwich travel to play Ipswich YM in the league next weekend.

Report from Andy Bray