Harpenden 19 - London Welsh 22

A hastily arranged friendly in an attempt to get match practice was, with the benefit of hindsight, a bit optimistic on the eve of our tour to France. We travelled with 13 players, which was a shame as we were playing on the London Welsh 1st XV pitch. The day started well with Derek Brown getting lost and Geoff Arbuthnott being sent to the Civil Service Sports Ground!!

To be honest the lads started as if this was a game they didn’t want and were guilty of underestimating a team two leagues below them. The first five minutes were full of errors and is was only five minutes into the game that Harps put together their first move of note, when good pressure by Dougie Norris at scrum half led to turnover ball and good linking between Jimmy Speirs and Adam Hills ended with our line out 10 minutes from the Welsh line. Despite winning good ball at the lineout Harps gave away a silly penalty at the ruck to allow Welsh to clear.

Welsh won the lineout and kicked on a mistake at full back meant that Welsh had a scrum in front of the posts on our 22m line. Two missed tackles in the backs led to the Welsh wing going over in the corner for an unconverted try after 7 minutes.

Courteney Dodds ran the ball back from the kick off but another penalty when the support failed to stay on their feet allowed Welsh to tap and go and keep control of the ball. Both teams wasted possession with some ineffective kicking and silly mistakes. However, more poor defence from Harps led to a scrappy try from the Welsh pack after 22 minutes. The try was converted to give Welsh a 12-0 lead.

However, things went from bad to worse as from a scrum after knock-on at the kick off Welsh put the ball into touch 5 metres out from the Harps’ line. Welsh stole the ball and rolled the ball forward for another converted try under the posts and a half-time lead of 19-0.

The half-time talk was spicy to say the least with most criticism coming from the boys themselves. Straight from the kick-off it was obvious that the commitment level had gone up a couple of notches but the execution still leaved something to be desired with three knock-ons in the first 5 minutes.

45 minutes into the game, with the boys having reverted to their proper positions, A strong tackle by Courteney Dodds at inside centre caused Welsh to spill the ball, Dougie Norris cleared the ball up and popped inside to Toby Turk who drove the ball into the Welsh 22m line. The ball came back quickly and was flipped to Jimmy Speirs who burst through the tackle to score a try under the posts, which he converted himself to make the score 19-7.

It seemed that the referee was spurred into action by our score. After receiving the kick-off Harps kicked long and the chasers were blown up for offside when they looked well behind the kicker. Two more penalties for some strange lineout offences gave Welsh the opportunity to kick for goal after 50 minutes, which they took for a 22-7 lead. From the kick-off Welsh knocked on and Harps had the put in at the scrum 30m out. Harps spun the ball wide and Dougie Norris forced his way to within 10 metres of the line, excellent support work by Sean Longden meant that we recycled the ball quickly and spun the ball wide to Tris Francis on the wing who ran over the tryline only to be pulled back for a non-existent forward pass.

With ten minutes to go Harps’ pressure paid off and they closed the gap to ten points when Adam Hills found Dougie Norris on the blindside in space and he beat the winger to score an unconverted try in the corner. Welsh managed to pin Harps back in their half with some good defence. Jimmy Speirs was forced to kick long but a good chase by Tris Francis and Dougie Norris lead to turnover ball and a two on one overlap, only for the referee to rule the chasers offside again.

With a couple of minutes to go, Harps scored again. Ali Mills took clean ball from a line out on the halfway line. Adam Hills drove forward and flipped the ball to Jimmy Speirs who ran through three tackles before being stopped. The ball was recycled and Tris Francis took the ball on the blindside to run under the post for a converted try and to bring Harps within 3 points.

Unfortunately, despite running the ball back into the Welsh half from the kick off, a knock on just inside the Welsh 22m line meant the referee blew for time and a 22-19 loss for Harps.

Despite their second half rally it probably did the boys good to learn the lesson that you should never underestimate the opposition and put yourself in the position of playing “catch-up rugby” with a home referee.

Team

Jimmy Spiers (capt), Tom Baker, Joe Beale, Toby Turk, Andrew Brown, Ali Mills, Adam Hills, Tris Francis, Sean Longden, Courtney Dodds, Dougie Norris, David Arbuthnott and Michael Halliwell.

Coaches:

Robin Longden

T: 01438 832217

M: 07785 555653

Mike Baker

T: 01582 760531

Mike Norris

T: 01525 373319