The home side squad was bolstered with the first appearance of the season for Craig Wilson who put in a man of the match performance which include eleven try conversions, as he donned the No.10 shirt and controlled the game, Harwich also saw the welcome return of the Iron Man trio of Joe Francis, Dean Splarn and Guy Harris who stepped away from rugby last season to concentrate efforts on the endurance sport and charity fund raising.

Newbies to the sport Dave Warren and Lee Durrant stepped out for their first competitive game in a Harwich Shirt to put all the close season training to the test, both giving good accounts of themselves.

The game was dominated by Harwich right from the off, the big experience forwards exerting their dominance and it wasn’t long before Captain on the day and Birthday boy Mark Sander-Crook broke from the back of a driving maul to touchdown for the first of a sixteen try haul for the day.

The home side put on a display of open flowing rugby to the delight of a large home crowd a performance which produced ten individual try scorers, including three each for Kyle Hutchins and Lewis Kerley as well as tries for Joe Francis, Ryan Boyne, Richard Miller, Joe Sciberas, Dean Splarn, Harley Hema and Mike Cowley the veteran lock who was playing like a man pocessed

Despite the miss match and to their credit the young Clacton side demonstrated great character and determination throughout the game and contesting to the end against a much older more seasoned opposition.

Harwich despite the win will be without Flanker Simon Pitham for some time as he was forced to leave the field with a suspected broken rib and will be missed by his back row partner Sean Mills Snr. and the rest of the team.

Report by Andy Bray