HALSTEAD TEMPLARS 0

HARWICH AND D II 33

Eastern Counties League division three south

HARWICH emerged victorious in a showdown between the third and fourth-place sides.

The hosts started brightly, keen to impose themselves, and immediately went on the attack.

However, Harwich kept their shape and bided their time, soaking up pressure.

Stand-off Joe Francis used high balls to great effect and regained easy territorial advantage.

While the visitors were able to mount counter-attacks, their final touch let them down.

The deadlock was eventually broken on 35 minutes.

Against the run of play, Harwich’s James Cullen seized a loose ball deep in his own half before surging all the way to the try-line.

Craig Wilson converted.

Harwich kept ball in hand at the start of the second half, imposing their superiority.

Their pack dominated and raised their game, drawing in the home defence and creating openings out wide.

Winger Adam Palmer went close to scoring, being stopped just short of the line.

Halstead then struggled to clear as Harwich drove them back, resulting in the ball popping out for scrum-half Lloyd McPhee to pounce for a try that went unconverted.

With their forwards in command, this provided the perfect platform for Harwich’s centres to test Halstead’s resolve.

It wasn’t long before the tries started coming.

Adam Palmer showed his pace out wide, making a deceive break before finally drawing the defence.

Cullen, in space, touched down under the posts and Sam Jewell converted.

As the game progressed, Halstead were forced to pay the price for their mammoth effort.

Fatigue set in and gaps appeared in their defence.

With Harwich’s backs full of running, they didn’t need any invitation to attack and produced two further tries.

The first was scored by Jewell, as previous try-scorer Cullen turned provider.

Jewell then converted his own try.

The final try was a great individual effort, from Francis.

He collected the ball in his own half and showed light footwork, dancing his way round tackles for a try under the post. Wilson converted.

Man-of-the-match was awarded to Cullen.