Oct 29 - LNE3 Harlow (A)

L 36 - 32 Report attached

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Harlow36 v Wymondham32

By John Mackay

Although the harsh fact is that Wymondham lost this match and returned to Norfolk with only a single losing bonus point, the team will not be disheartened by a performance of much skill and resilience in a game that was enthralling from first minute to last.

Yet again, Wymondham conceded early, knocking on from the kick off and having to defend desperately from the resulting scrum. Good defence resulted in a Wymondham 5 metre scrum which was wheeled by Harlow and from the resulting home put-in, the ball was popped out to the burly centre who crashed over under the posts for a converted try.

After just 10 minutes, Wymondham found themselves 14-0 down when their scrum was turned over and a Harlow forward broke two tackles to score.

In this position last season, Wymondham might well have capitulated and looked forward to a humiliating afternoon, but straight from the re-start, they started to impose themselves on the game with crisp passing and rapid ball from the breakdown allowing the talented back line to put pressure on Harlow. As a result, the home team tried to slow down possession and, inevitably, conceded a penalty. James Wyatt was unlucky to see his attempt cannon off the post but pressure on the defence saw Wymondham turn over possession and the excellent Josh Wright offloaded to captain, Penna Sokia, who was unstoppable from 20 metres out.

Having reduced the arrears to 9 points after 18 minutes, Wymondham again conceded straight from the kick-off. A knock on led to a scrum on half way and, from nowhere, the home scrum-half galloped down the narrowest of blind sides to score in the corner. The try was unconverted leaving Wymondham behind by 19 points to 5.

The Red and Blacks again rallied and, after five minutes of pressure in the home half, won another penalty for offside which Wyatt coolly slotted between the posts.

A pattern was emerging here in that whenever Wymondham played to their strengths and speeded up the game in their opponent’s half, Harlow lost their discipline and conceded penalties. This again proved the case when, just 3 minutes later, on 28 minutes, a high tackle in midfield allowed ace kicker Wyatt to reduce the arrears with the score then standing at 19-11 to Harlow.

Wymondham again exerted pressure and Wyatt narrowly missed another attempt from the halfway line but then the Norfolk team’s defence again paid the penalty for not making their first-up tackles and allowed the Harlow full-back to skip through the midfield to score under the posts.

With 34 minutes gone, some frenetic rugby and the score at 26-11 to Harlow, you might think that would be the end of scoring for the first half but Wymondham had other ideas. Just one minute later, with Wymondham working hard in the Harlow half, the home side conceded another penalty for offside- 26-14 to Harlow. Not content with this, in stoppage time, veteran centre Barry O’Sullivan, who had an outstanding game, picked a pass off the floor, shipped the ball quickly, ran the loop to re-take possession and passed out to jet-heeled winger Alex Brugger to finish in the corner and leave the score 26-19 to Harlow at the break.

Straight from the re-start, Wymondham took the game to the opposition with crisp handling, quick ball from the rucks and telling forward momentum. A sustained period of possession saw David Martin take the ball on the wing some 25 metres out and the deceptively strong, pacy, youngster broke through three tackles to plunge over the line. Unfortunately, this was his last act in the game as he injured his hip and had to be replaced by debutant Matthew Bekker.

With the successful conversion, Wymondham drew level and when Sokia drew a penalty in the Harlow half, Wyatt was able to put the Norfolk side ahead for the first time in the match.

The lead did not last long, however, as Harlow’s large pack turned over a Wymondham scrum and again exploited the blind side to leave the score at 31-29 to Harlow.

Much to the chagrin of the Harlow supporters, the Essex side conceded another penalty for offside which allowed Wyatt to give Wymondham the slenderest of leads at 32-31 before, on the 70 minute mark, Harlow won an attacking lineout and their heavy pack rumbled over in the corner to give them a 36-32 lead.

As it turned out, this was to be the final score, although nobody in the crowd would have put money on this. Wymondham exerted immense pressure on the Harlow line with a succession of rolling mauls and, according to well-placed Harlow supporters, can consider themselves unlucky not to have been awarded one, if not two, tries when the ball appeared to have been grounded.

 So Wymondham reflected on what might have been but will look forward to the rest of the campaign knowing that each week has seen improvement and with a growing belief that they can take on and match any team in their league.

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Harlow v Wymondham – Preview

Wymondham venture into Essex on Saturday for the first time this season to take on a strong looking Harlow side. Harlow sit second in the League having lost just one of their 6 matches and that was last week when table-toppers Holt ran out convincing winners.

The Wymondham camp will not be underestimating the size of their task as there is no doubt that Harlow will have been stung by their first defeat and will be looking to bounce back in front of their home support.

There is, however, a growing belief amongst the players and coaches that, on their day, Wymondham can be a match for any team and confidence is high following back-to-back League wins. Whilst there are still areas of their game that require improvement, they have been pinpointed and are being addressed in training. The Club’s investment, with Easton College, in detailed video analysis technology is proving particularly helpful with this.

The selectors will, by and large, rely on the players who ended up narrowly beating Sudbury last week but flying winger David Martin is a doubt, having received a further blow in the face to add to that he received the previous week. Back rower, Sam Hodgson, who started the season as physiotherapist but has now demonstrated his playing prowess, is also struggling with an injury so final selection was not made until after training on Thursday night. Nigel Brown returns to the front row after impressing in his brief appearance off the bench last week.

The Club has learnt that Finchley, who defeated Wymondham in the RFU Senior Vase competition, fielded an ineligible player and Wymondham have therefore been reinstated and are now scheduled to play Newmarket at Tuttles Lane in the next round on 5^th November.

The second XV travel to Holt in a Merit Table fixture while the thirds have a blank week.

John Mackay

1^st XV (Prov.): S. Forton, N.Brown, D. Canning, D.Blake, J.Wright, P.Johnson, S.Hodgson , S.Phoenix, J.Wyatt,

 B. Graham-Park, P.Sokia, B.O’Sullivan, A.Brugger, P.Reed, D.Martin, A.Duckham, T.Wilson.