Harrow Colts put wind up local rivals.

Sunday saw Harrow Colts face local rivals Ruislip in what was a Herts/Middx league and LV Cup double header.
With overnight rain making playing conditions damp underfoot, and a strong wind blowing from the start a close game was expected, and Harrow really needed to impose themselves on the game from the beginning and not get off to one of their usual slow starts.
However, after winning the toss and kicking off that is exactly what happened, with a big Ruislip pack taking the ball into contact and recycling well to make progress on the heavy field. Harrow were clearly not winning the contact area in the first 10 minutes, and twice Ruislip crossed Harrows line to make the score 10-0 to the visitors after just 10 minutes.
This initial set back seemed to fire life into the Harrow pack, and from the kick off an excellent carry from Bruce Parris saw him twice draw covering defenders and accelerate through gaps, to put a sublime pass into Ollie Stern who made no mistake from 3 yards out. Try converted by Will Moran, who had an excellent day with the boot in the conditions, and Harrow were back in the game at 7-10.
Harrow were now on the front foot at the breakdown, and with Davin, Bruce and Callum wreaking havoc and turning ball over consistently Harrow again made good ground into Ruislip 22, and following a couple of excellent line out drives Ruislip conceded a penalty just to the right of the uprights, A quick tap from Ben Sugarman, and he put Tim Watson away to crash through and score. Conv missed, but Harrow now had their noses in front 12-10.
Ruislip came back immediately and a couple of missed tackles resulted in their quick 14 going over in the corner, and Harrow were behind again 12-15.
With 10 minutes remaining in the half Harrow needed to raise the intensity, and did so with some further excellent forward work from Ale Kosak making great ground, and Bruce Parris finishing off an excellent forward move for a well-deserved try which was converted by Will to put Harrow back in front 19-15. There was still time for a further try from Harrows own try machine Lucca Ellis, following some great work in the centres between Ben Hudson and Julian Plehn putting Lucca into the space he craves and he cantered in for a try just before the break to leave the score 24-15 in Harrow’s favour at the break.

Into the second half and Ruislip's big pack were tiring rapidly in the heavy conditions, and with the wind ever so slightly in Harrows favour they started to control all aspects of the game. Aidan Tearle had an excellent game at hooker hitting his jumpers with amazing regularity given the conditions, and the front 8 were swarming all over the pitch giving Harrows backs plenty of ball to work with. Tom Sanders made a fantastic break just into the second half, collecting on his own 10 and accelerating up the right hand touchline, and breaking through a number of Ruislip tackles – whilst the final ball didn’t quite go to hand the resultant pressure and play created a gap in the Ruislip back Line and Julian glided through for a score under the posts, which was again converted and Harrow were now fully on top 31-15.
Will Moran then came into the line from full-back and accelerated through space to again score under the posts, which made his own conversion relatively straightforward, and further tries came from the front 8 with Callum Raybould smashing through 2-3 Ruislip defenders to score and gain reward for an excellent all round performance, and Tom Sanders rounded things off with another short penalty move smashing through the tiring Ruislip defence to touchdown for his first try since coming back in January. Will Moran converted the easier of the 2 chances, and at the final whistle Harrow had run out 50-15 winners.
It keeps the league title ambitions alive, but more importantly was a reflection of all the hard work which has gone in over the last weeks, the increased numbers and attitude to mid-week training, and the developing understanding between all of the squad.
Special mention to Ale Kosak who had an outstanding game all round the pitch, and whilst the whole squad performance was strong he did stand out to most on the day.
Still things to work on – not least the need to start each match with a level of intensity, and not spend first 10 minutes or so waking up !! Better sides will get in front and potentially stay there – but if we had nothing to improve, then our job as coaches would be non-existent.
Thanks to Linda for sorting the food at last minute, and all who came to watch and support – hopefully all will agree it was a good way to spend a Sunday early afternoon.
In the words of Hannibal Smith from the A Team – “I love it when a plan comes together”