MATCH REPORT - 1st XV 17 - HARROW 16

Welwyn 17 v Harrow 16

On a cold, bright autumn day with a light breeze across the pitch Welwyn played host to Harrow, the

visitors sitting 7 th in the league table against Welwyn’s lowly 11 th .

Harrow kicked off up the slope and generated the early mid field exchanges with their back row

immediately looking dangerous finding space and territory to run into. But Welwyn’s tackling was up

to the challenge, although the clearance kicks to space repeatedly failed to find touch or gain an

advantage and on repetitive occasions tended to result in Harrow running the ball back again into

Welwyn territory. A Harrow lineout near Welwyn’s 10 metre line was nearly stolen but the visitors

flanker was first to the loose ball and carried deep into Welwyn’s half before passing to a supporting

player for them to have almost a clear run through to score under the posts. The conversion kick added

the extras to give the visitors a 7 point advantage with only 7 minutes on the clock.

Clearly encouraged by their early endeavours Harrow gathered the ball from the restart and for a period

pinned Welwyn back into their own half, little by little taking play forever deeper into the Welwyn 22

metre area. Only resolute defending by Welwyn prevented further scores from the visitors, forwards

Freeston, Lewis and Picken tackling everything that came their way. The Welwyn cause was not

assisted by the home sides’ failure to relieve the territorial pressure by finding touch with clearance

kicks, even penalties and almost invited Harrow to run the ball back deep into Welwyn’s half. When 2 nd

row forward Ash Maxwell was substituted early, the Harrow pressure continued. Further forays by

Harrow deep into Welwyn’s half provided a series of attacking scrums to the visitors and eventually

Welwyn conceded a penalty around 25 metres out but straight in front of the posts to allow Harrow to

increase their lead to 10 points with now 27 minutes played.

From the restart Welwyn redoubled their efforts to get a foothold in the game. More productive use of

kicking provided a relief of pressure taking play deep into Harrow’s half with a penalty, kick to touch

and a Welwyn lineout, which was functioning well, took play within 5 metres of the Harrow line.

Various handling errors and scrum resets allowed that attack to fizzle out and Welwyn had to be

continually mindful of the Harrow back row who when in possession were capable of making incisive

runs with the ball deep into Welwyn territory. But Welwyn built their attack again and it was from one

of these attacking lineouts that Welwyn expedited a catch and drive, recycled the ball to their backs,

and then again drove their rolling maul over the try line with Chris Sloane scoring from short range, the

following effort to convert narrowly missing from the wide left side. 5-10.

With only minutes remaining in the first half Harrow attacked from the restart, Welwyn eventually

knocking the ball on in defence to provide an attacking scrum midway in their half. Welwyn cleverly

won the scrum against the head and this set up a speedy attack in the middle of the pitch allowing the

home side to gain territory quickly eventually resulting in James Lynch punting the ball wide to his left

wing. The Welwyn winger Dan Ashcroft narrowly beat the Harrow defender to the ball and kicked it

through towards the try line gathering it up at speed to score a 2 nd Welwyn try. As the 1 st half drew to a

close the conversion effort again slide wide to tie the game at 10-10.

So Welwyn kicked off the 2 nd half in the ascendancy but knowing there was still a tough and difficult

challenge ahead and early encounters resulted in both sides battling for possession in the midfield. But

when Harrows forwards lost possession in Welwyn’s half the backs took the opportunity without

hesitation and great running from Gillespie support from Harcourt and others resulted in Welwyn’s 3 rd

try of the afternoon being scored under the posts, the conversion being almost a formality to make the

score 17-10. Clearly encouraged by their efforts and with Rob Picken and Carl Lewis again getting the

measure of the Harrow flankers, Welwyn started to probe the Harrow defence and win territory with

strategic kicking this time finding touch from various penalties and kicks out of hand. The Welwyn

lineout was operating well with Sloane taking a lot of good ball off the top, and Lewis offering an

alternative to keep the visitors guessing and play was mainly in the Harrow half. But Harrow defence

held firm and when in possession appeared to be confident to run the ball from deep using both backs

and their speedy back row forwards. It was during one of these penetrative runs that the Welwyn’s

centre Lynch was deemed to have offended by knocking the ball down and was given a yellow card for

a 10 minute rest in the sin bin with only 12 minutes of the 2 nd half played. So against 14 men Harrow

started to find more space and more territory for their labours. Welwyn tackled furiously with everyone

doing whatever they could to stop the flow of Harrow play towards the Welwyn line, but almost

inevitably the defence was caught offside 25 metres out in front of the posts and Harrow slotted the

penalty to take the score to 17-13 half way through the 2 nd half. From the restart Welwyn tried to build

territory in the Harrow half but again the visitors broke out through their back row forwards and within

seconds Welwyn had again been caught offside the penalty being awarded almost the exact location as

the previous offence. The penalty safely slotted the scoreboard moved to 17-16 with now 15 minutes of

the game remaining. Welwyn returned to 15 men and both sides were now visibly straining to gain

possession and territory and any efforts near the Welwyn 22 metre line were focussed around not

giving any further penalties away. As the clock slowly ebbed away Welwyn gradually gained territorial

advantage and made one last big effort to fully secure the game. Welwyn’s lineout had operated well

all game and a catch and drive in the Harrow half resulted in the maul adjudged to have been pulled

down by the defence. A kick to touch, Welwyn lineout and another catch and drive delivered more of

the same this time play breaking down for Harrow to mount a last assault towards the Welwyn try line.

With minutes to go Welwyn defended in their 22 metre area and resolute tackling again prevented

Harrow gaining ground eventually driving the visitors out of play as the final whistle heralded the end

of this close and exciting encounter.

A great, solid performance by Welwyn and a sound lineout display throughout the afternoon topped off

with a try resulted in 2 nd row Chris Sloane rightfully being provided the Man of the Match Award. But

on this occasion it was all 15 Welwyn players on the pitch who really deserved the accolades.

Determined, distinctive, driven – this was pretty much the performance we know Welwyn can deliver

against a well drilled, fast flowing opposition. These 3 points in the league still leaves Welwyn towards

the bottom danger zone, but more performances like this – with tweaks and adjustments to improve

here and there being inevitable and necessary – suggests we have a way forward and potentially a good

future.

Interestingly this game was a precursor to the next round of the Intermediate Cup where these 2 sides

have been drawn against each other for a January encounter at Harrow. Put it in your diary for judging

from this performance – it’s going to be a belter!!!