Match report by Matt Linden
Hitchin are top of the league and clearly a powerful and well drilled team, so Harrow were going to have their work cut out in this fixture. The Harrow team was much changed with only 5 players in the same starting position as two weeks ago , however for much of the first half Harrow met the powerful Hitchin unit head on and even went ahead briefly thanks to a well taken try scored by Sam Dillamore, Harrows hooker. This try was thanks to the forward power that Harrow enjoyed at the start of the game and they won several penalties through forward dominance.

Unfortunately, Harrow were penalised for several high tackles and failure to release in the tackle and were soon down to 14 players due to a yellow card for repeated infringements.
Hitchin launched several attacks, but Harrow’s defence stood firm for a long time but eventually numbers told, and Hitchin scored close to the post following a long period of sustained pressure.

Harrow attempted to attack through forwards and backs but could not break through the strong Hitchin defence. Some poor kicking led to Hitchin’s second try and unfortunately ill-discipline from both sides led to Harrow having a player red-carded and being forced to play the remainder of the game (about an hour) with just 14 players.

Harrow did their best to match Hitchin’s attacks and defended well for the remainder of the first half, but the effort told, and Harrow lost a couple of payers early in the 2nd half to injuries.
It was during the 2nd half that Thomas Hutton (one of last year’s Colts) came on at fly half to make his first 15 debut. Thomas showed great maturity and ran the line like a much more experienced player showing good skill and an understanding of when to kick, run or pass.
Another of last year’s Colts making his first team debut this week was Caoilte Healy at 2nd row who was a powerhouse in the pack and made several dominant tackles. In fact, one of the most encouraging things about this game was the selection and performance of three of last year’s colts, with Thomas Hutton and Caoilte Healy joining scrum half Tom Linden who has already played several games for the first this season.

In total six of last season’s colts’ team have made the jump to adult rugby for Harrow this season and all have made significant contributions and their continued involvement will be instrumental in the future of the club.

Playing for so long with 14 players against a powerful team like Hitchin is not easy and eventually Harrow were worn down. They never gave up but having had to play all their substitutes early meant Harrow started to run out of steam and Hitchin were able to run in several tries.

Harrow continued to press and in particular Tom Beech, Richard Murray and Tom Linden all made great breaks, but these could not be turned into tries.
So, work to be done and a good attendance at training will be vital this week but also a lot to be pleased about and hopefully next week will see both teams out.