The entire team were up for the challenge ahead and started strongly winning an early penalty which was slotted by Ryan Boyne for a 3-0 lead, as the day progressed Boyne showed he had packed his kicking boots for the trip with a strong display with his kicking whilst also tackling well at 15.
The first 8 scores of the match were shared evenly - unfortunately Harwich dealing in 3’s and Halstead 7’s !!!
Halstead were down to 14 for the first 10 minutes of the second half due to repeated infringement, and with Josh Edward entering the fray optimism was running trough the ranks....however Harwich were unable to take advantage and ended up evening the numbers of when Mike Cowley was harshly adjudged to have made a deliberate knock on - but the fact he played the ball from a position that was 8 yards offside meant the actual yellow was rightly given and Josh Edwards cameo was only 15 minutes as he twisted and eyelash and had to leave the field of play.
The next 30 minutes really saw Halstead take control and the executed 4 unanswered scores to leave the final score 49-12, which based in the effort from the entire 22 was a harsh reflection, whilst noting that top of the table Templers are now a really strong team all over the park.
Special mentions to Dave Warren as MOM for a great effort in the front row and Mills Snr as DOD for stealing a doughnut from the Halstead 6 at the end of the game - not sure Mr Mills should play next time we play the Templers, as the big 6 was not happy !!
All in all whilst score shows a comprehensive victory for the home team Harwich really competed from 1st minute to the last minutes and if they can take this effort into the last 2 league games of the season they won’t go to far wrong.
Report by Magic Mike