ALDEBURGH AND THORPENESS 8

HARWICH AND DOVERCOURT II 75

Eastern Counties League

division three south

HARWICH enjoyed an emphatic victory as the sides met for the first time this season.

The visitors had no less than four farther and son pairings, with Andy and captain Oly Bray at the helm, joined by Sean Mills senior and junior, Guy and Lewis Williams and Mike and Owen Cowley.

The game started at a frantic pace, with neither team playing with much structure as they struggled with ball retention and handling errors.

Neither looked like scoring as the battle was played out in the centre of the park.

It took a great individual effort from Harley Hema to open the scoring with the first of 11 Harwich tries.

He battered his way through the defence from close range.

Despite the early losses of Hooker and Hannan with concussion and wing Josh Eldridge, Harwich managed to establish a 28-3 lead at half-time, thanks to tries from full-back Joe Francis, lock Mike Cowley and wing Lewis Williams.

Regrouping at the break, Harwich came out even stronger and looked a much slicker outfit, displaying the structure to their game that was missing earlier.

They exploiting space out wide, with wing Ryan Boyne being the first to reap the benefit from his team’s effort, touching down out wide as they set about putting the hosts to the sword.

Harwich were playing at a much higher tempo then previously, with their forwards being a much tighter unit.

They were able to retain ball possession, giving the back plenty of opportunities to attack with pace and exploit a tiring defence.

This led to further tries from Lewis Williams, to complete his brace, Hema, Craig Wilson, Paul Sewell and Owen Cowley.

Despite the score, the home side’s work ethic was fully committed and commendable throughout.

However, it brought them little reward against strong opposition, although they did manage a single try in the closing stages.

Wilson put in a solid shift for Harwich at ten, as he bagged a try for himself and kicked ten out of 11 conversions for an individual tally of 25 points.

This earned him the man-of-the-match accolade.

Team: H Hema, A Hannan, O Bray (C), J London, R Woods, M Cowley, S Pitham, P Sewell, T Kite, C Wilson, J Eldridge, G Williams, O Cowley, R Boyne, J Francis, S Mills Snr, M Bowe, L Williams, S Mills Jnr.