Harlow 17 v 19 Old Cooperians
London & SE Div III N

ANOTHER very close contest but this week the dice fell for Cooperians. It was annoying for Harlow because again their pack dominated and in terms of territory and tries scored they had the edge. As in the past; discipline let them down. It was not so much the number of times they were penalized it was just that from a very long range shot in the opening minutes it was obvious that the visitors had a kicker who could put the ball over from anywhere in the opposition half. Harlow however did not take this on board; 14 of the visitor’s points came from his boot. This leaves Harlow in sixth place in the league which is becoming a very open contest. Campion have edged themselves ahead of Sudbury to take the lead as a result of a massive win over bottom places Canvey Island. And it is Campion that Harlow visit for their next league encounter on the 23rd November.

Almost immediately after the start Harlow conceded a penalty just inside their own half for failing to rollaway after the tackle. The visitors number 9 slotted with ease a kick that must have been 45 yards plus. Five minutes later Harlow made their task harder when Cooperians kicked way downfield and Fricker and their winger gave chase as the ball went towards the line. The Harlow player was judged to have taken out his opponent before he gathered the ball, conceding a penalty try and a 10 point lead to Cooperians. For the next quarter of an hour the game was more of a mid-field slog but at least when the visitors did break the Harlow back row and centres tackling was solid. The first part of a Harlow revival came when skipper Shaun Roberts took a reverse parse and made a solo break for the line. He brushed off two defenders and touched down under the posts. Dobson converted for 7 – 10. A Penalty allowed Cooperians to extend their lead to 7 – 13. Then in the last couple of minutes Harlow hit back when full-back Rob Mackie came into the line to make the extra man and touched down out wide. Dobson converted and Harlow went into the interval with a 14 – 13 lead.

There had been heavy rain before the match and intermittent showers made good handling difficult. Most of the second half was a cut and thrust game and the Harlow pack continued to dominate. Cooperians did make several good arracks ball in hand but the conditions made it difficult to hold on to passes and it began to look as if Harlow were going to retain their minimal lead. Then with twelve minutes to go flanker Josh Drake was yellow carded for taking out a player without the ball. It meant Harlow had to play out time a man short. A couple of minutes later a Cooperians penalty put them ahead 14 – 16. Three minutes after that Dobson added a penalty for Harlow putting them back in the lead 17 – 16. With only a few minutes to go Harlow should have closed the game down but they were caught and then conceded a penalty running the ball from their own half. Cooperians put it over to re-take the lead and in the less than two minutes left Harlow could not get the ball back up into the visitors territory; the game ended 17 – 19 to the Old Cooperians.

Tries: Shaun Roberts, Rob Mackie
Penalty: Michael Dobson

Team: 1. Danny Stonehouse, 2. Mark Bowering, 3. James Ephgrave, 4. Kerry Palmer, 5. James Unwin, 6. Shaun Roberts (Capt.), 7. Josh Drake, 8. Kain Claridge, 9. Rhys Powell, 10. Michael Dobson, 11. Chris Webb, 12. Luke Bowering, 13. Gareth Powell, 14. Jamie Fricker, 15. Rob Mackie, 16. Paul Eynon, 17. Paul Prindiville, 18. Wayne Heapy.
All replacements used in second half rotations