Harlow Colts 2023/24 - Braintree

Sunday 19th September 2021– Braintree u16s 0 Harlow u16s 42 : League We travelled to Braintree on a cloudy but warm morning. Having recovered from a disappointing loss late in the last weeks game at Thurrock the team were in the mood to put the record straight. On a warm morning Harlow started hard and strong, setting their own standards. Harlow’s first try game from a period of play where Harlow took it through 15 phases of play. This showed great ball retention and commitment to the break down from the whole squad resulting in Montelle Levy crossing the line and Joseph Pankhurst nailing his first conversion of the day. 0-7. Next up Harlow turned over the ball and nice hands from Ben Ferrier, Joseph Pankhurst, Montelle Levy who offloaded to Jamie Oliver who dotted down. Joseph Pankhurst converted. 0-14. Alfie Dutnall picked and drove into the tight defence drawing them all in. This allowed Joseph Pankhurst to ghost through the line and interchange of passed Joseph to Henry Stovell and back again before Tolu Ajibabi crossed the line. Joseph once again converted 0-21. Harlow turned over the ball from a Braintree attack in the Harlow 22. Quick hands out to Kai Young on the wing who stepped and out paced the defence and scored under the posts. Joseph Pankhurst slotted the conversion 0-28. Half time 0 – 28. The half time team talk was simple, when it slow build in our structure, when it’s on let’s play. So, no surprise the second half began the way the first half ended. Harlow forwards dominating the scrum and break down with a huge number of turnovers. A cracking set of drives first from Atakan Alagoz, then a pumping drive from Matt MacFarlane with a tidy offload to Corey Kelman and a dinky offload to Ben Ferrier to score by the posts. Converted once more by Joseph Pankhurst. 0-35. Another turn over on half way saw Tolu Ajibabi pull clear of the defence and score a lung busting try. Joseph Pankhurst converted -0-42. A great start to the league season, played one won one and maximum points with the maximum 0-39 score recorded for the record books. Final League Score 0 – 42. We have a rule in the Essex League and Cup competitions that the game should be stopped when the points difference reaches 39 points. After the score went from 35-0 with a converted try taking the score to 0-42 the referee and head coaches consulted on how to continue for the remaining 20 mins. As this was Braintree’s first game of the season they wished to carry on and with a few Harlow substitutions we were able to finish the last 20 mins without the pressure of a league result. In the remaining twenty minutes Montelle added another try, and Braintree added on of their own. Tolu picked up from the base of a scrum Harlow won against the head and charged for the line off loading to Ben who wrestled over for a score. Joseph Pankhurst converted both. Harlow winning the final twenty minutes 5-14. Joseph Pankhurst kicking all the conversions 100% today! Next week Harlow Under 16s take on Old Brentwood’s away in a friendly likely to be a 10am meet 11am kick off. Details to be confirmed later this week. Thank you to Joseph Pankhurst for washing the shirts last week and to Ben Ferrier for taking them this week. In training let’s work on receiving and chasing kick offs along with our exit strategy when we are under pressure in our 22. Please make sure you update your availability in SportMember. Join our Facebook group for more: https://www.facebook.com/groups/harlowunder16s202122 Tries in normal time: Montelle Levy, Jamie Oliver, Tolu Ajibabi (2), Kai Young, Ben Ferrier Conversions in normal time: Joseph Pankhurst (6) Penalties in normal time: None Tries after the game completed: Montelle Levy, Ben Ferrier Conversions after the game completed: Joseph Pankhurst Referee: Ian Pask, Suffolk & North Essex Society referee from Maldon Team 1. Gabe Greaves, 2. Charlie Jacques, 3. Felix Waugh, 4. Ed Lea, 5. Corey Kelman, 6. Alfie Dutnall, 7.Ben Ferrier, 8. Tolu Ajibabi, 9. Jack Rushworth, 10. Joseph Pankhurst, 11. Montelle Levy, 12. Jamie Oliver, 13. Henry Stovell, 14. Kai Young, 15. Tobie Westbrook, 16. Joseph Williams, 17. Matt Macfarlane, 18 Atakan Alagoz, 19. Brandon Jackson, 20. Owen Eynon All players played half a game or more.