MERSEA ISLAND 10, HARLOW 0
London Two North EastHARLOW Rugby Club were beaten in atrocious conditions at a windswept Mersea Island on Saturday.
Gale force winds and intermittent rain made passing rugby virtually impossible. It was a day for keeping the ball in hand and playing very tight rugby using the forwards in short stabbing drives.
Mersea started quicker and took play rapidly into the Harlow half from the kick-off. Within the first five minutes they managed to offload the ball to scrum-half Jon Williams who slipped two tackles and cut in close to the posts for a try. Kicking well in the difficult wind he converted for a seven-point lead.
With the wind in their favour, the home side continued to have most of the territory and Harlow were forced to defend against a non-stop series of drives by the Mersea forwards. Playing against the wind Harlow could do little except keep the ball tight, even kicking for clearance was a high- risk strategy.
Brown at full-back did better than most managing to keep the ball relatively low to make some useful clearances.
On 35 minutes Harlow conceded a penalty about 30 yards out and Williams slotted the kick over for a 10-point lead.
Towards the end of the half Harlow had a good period of attack using the driving maul close to the Mersea try line. They went through five good phases of play before a handling error allowed Mersea to take cleanly from the scrum and, making very good use of the strong wind, clear the ball downfield.
In the second half Harlow suffered a major setback when scrum-half Lee Harron was forced to come off with a serious rib injury. Although Charlie Woodington did well as a replacement, the Rams seriously missed Harron's ability to pounce on opposition mistakes.
Harlow had one good attacking opportunity when Kain Claridge broke with ball in hand and made 50 yards before he was stopped eight yards short of the try line. Supporting runners tried to take the ball on, but Mersea were able to close them down and clear.
For the first 50 minutes Harlow had success taking clean ball from the lineout and following up with a rolling maul. However, an injury to their specialist lineout jumper Darren Hawkins reduced the effectiveness of this strategy.
In the final 20 minutes fly-half Michael Dobson exploited the wind well to make some massive clearances to touch deep into the Mersea half, but the loss of Harlow lineout dominance meant they were not able to take full advantage. The home side closed down the game and held out for their first win of the season.
There are now three more league weekends to complete the first half of the league season. Harlow have to face league leaders Thurrock, who are still undefeated, second placed Braintree and fifth placed Sudbury. It will be a tough challenge to take any points from these remaining games, but if they are going to keep clear of the danger zone near the bottom they must get some points.
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