Harlow 22 - 17 Ipswich

Following a three-match unbeaten run in November, 6th placed Ipswich Rugby Club came unstuck against 5th placed Harlow on a freezing cold, but dry and sunny day in Essex. Latton Park, Harlow is a brand new & superb, multi-million pound facility on the outskirts of Harlow and, in front of a large home crowd the Rams edged out the Suffolk visitors in a tense London 2 encounter.

Ipswich took an extremely early lead after just 3 minutes with their powerful number 8 Cris Blom taking an inside pass from Carlton Littlechild who had broken from a midfield scrum. Corey Button added a fine conversion to allow an early 0-7 lead.

Just two minutes later, the Harlow fly-half took the ball on the Ipswich 10 metre and slipped a couple of weak tackles in midfield before side-stepping full-back Littlechild to score (5-7).

Harlow, playing in red shirts, then took a lead following a catch and drive from a line-out on the Ipswich left flank with a fine conversion to follow (12-7).

The remainder of the first period, was something of an arm-wrestle, with weak Ipswich tackling allowing the home side lots of territory and possession. Ipswich seemed unable to make a sustained effort on the Harlow line conceding penalties with a worrying frequency whilst some careless handling and a high error count made life extremely difficult. Two yellow cards towards the end of the first half (Littlechild for an adjudged high tackle and flanker Church following repeat offending), saw Ipswich playing with just 13 men for a period. No surprises that Harlow were able to capitalise scoring another try from a close quarter maul (17-7).

The final minute of the half saw a second Ipswich try. A well-worked Ipswich line-out, secured by lock Mike Graham, saw the ball moved to Blom running at full speed to crash through the Harlow defence. A second Button conversion saw the two well-matched sides turn around with a score of 17-14.

The second half commenced with Ipswich stringing together a couple of smart moves and some control as they went through their phases. Harlow, now on the back-foot conceded a series of penalties as the black & golds pressed forwads. Button missed a long touch kick and from the resultant counter-attack, Harlow entered the Ipswich ‘22’. Working patiently the reds held on to possession eventually stretching the Ipswich defence to score a fourth try on 52 mins (22-14).

Ten minutes later and Harlow had a penalty kick at goal for a chance to extend their lead but the kick sailed away to the left of the goal.

As the sides entered the last 10 minutes of play, Ipswich were again on top and threatening the Harlow line, but, seemed unable to execute from close quarters. The Harlow penalty count continued to rise, and following a couple of quick ‘tap & goes’ from scrum-half Jake Steward, Harlow infringed and a yellow card followed for one of the Harlow defenders. Ipswich were again awarded a penalty and Button secured the points from 26 metres to reduce the deficit (22-17). With little time left it was Harlow that were able to hang on to secure the win and vital league points.