Manor v Harlow

Shakespeare on top form would have struggled to describe quite how glorious a day it was at the New Wilderness for this game. Nevertheless I would imagine Harlow barely noticed as they showed up late and likely stressed after the M11 had ground to halt and delayed proceedings.

When the game did get started it did so at a furious and unsustainable pace. Harlow had the better of the early exchanges especially in the scrums. Manor were getting pushed all round the park and loosing ball against head.

Nevertheless the Manor got some early luck after Nathan’s attempt to hit touch failed miserably and bounced all over the place deep in the Harlow 22. The resulting chase and bundle saw Harlow give away another penalty. A quick tap and pass to the Irish behemoth Brian, saw Manor score under the posts. Credit should go to Ben Ward who’s tackle breaking runs forced Harlow players onto the wrong side for Nathan’s penalty.

The second try shortly followed. The imperious Kevin Read made a fabulous break and offloaded delightfully to Ben Ward. He went over the try line; but although Harlow’s strategy of trying to remove his head to prevent him touching down worked, the referee (who was wearing very dark wrap around sunglasses – have never seen that before) awarded a penalty try. 14 – 0

The rest of the half saw Harlow mount a sustained attack but they never really penetrated. The Manor defence was resolute. Manor broke out on occasions, notably by Alfie who could have maybe scored and Ryan who had a try disallowed after Kev Read made another break after Brian’s thieving of the ball.

Harlow’s score came from a mistake in the backs. A pass was fumbled and Harlow hacked ahead. Manor were forced to touch down to give Harlow a scrum 5. The resulting push-over was inevitable. 14-5 at halftime.

Manor had the perfect start to the second half. A midfield collision between the Harlow players at the kick-off saw a big cheer from the Manor crowd. But of more interest was the resultant half-way scrum which saw Manor, for the first time, hold Harlow back. The field position resulted in an early second half try for Joe. Harlow’s rotten start to the half continued with their fly-half then failing to go the regulation 10 from the kick-off. Harlow were starting to look dejected.

This error ultimately led to Manor being able to kick for position. The backs then unleashed Kevin Read again to smash his way through and offload to Dave Hannah for a score under the posts. 26-5

Max was then the benefactor of an absolute peach of a try. Aggressive rucking and smart offloading created spaces for Joe and Brian to exploit. The surge upfield saw the ball going quickly wide and Max went out from the 22 which had the crowd purring with delight. 33-5

Again Harlow came back but the pressure was absorbed. The next try came after Manor stole Harlow’s line-out ball on the 10 meter line. Nathan wafted a couple of dummies and popped the ball to Dave Hannah for another try under the postes. 40 – 5.

Dave then got jug duties after looping Nathan and passing off an outrageous dummy to get another score. However a nod has to go to Joe who did the hard work in getting the field position to make the score possible. 47 5