Watford 2nd XV 20 - 22 Harrow 3rd XV 03-12-05 |
|
Watford resumed their Merit Table campaign 2nd in the table behind Tring, the only team to beat them this season (and this was by default as they were unable to field a full side, though Watford were actually victorious on the field.) Watford commenced the game looking a bit rusty and looking every bit like they hadn't played together for three weeks. Mistakes crept into the play from the off, wrong options were taken, players ran the ball when really their lines should have been cleared and they were looking vulnerable at both restarts.... Harrow's scrum had a substantial look about it and their large pack were content to keep it simple and direct, playing down the middle. Watford's advantage looked to be in the three quarters with both centre's looking slippy and capable of breaking tackles and the wingers from the early exchanges clearly had the pace to trouble their opposite numbers. Harrow scored after about ten minutes through their big number 8 who broke several tackles and grounded under the posts, the conversion was added to make the score 7-0 to Harrow. Watford replied at the end of the first quarter after a superb long range try from left winger Johnson who was put clear after a tackle was broken by outside centre Lee. Unfortunately the ball was grounded right in the left hand corner and Healy was unable to add the two points. Thankfully he was soon able to make amends by slotting over a long range penalty in front of the posts to take the home side into a slender 8-7 lead. Watford improved in the 2nd quarter, gained parity at the line out and began to put some good moves together. Healy and Johnson continued to look threatening and the mobile back row with Bennett at the fore began to consistently make inroads. However the scrummage continued to be a problem with the bigger heavier Harrow eight continuing to dominate and force the Watford halves to operate under extreme pressure. Unrfortunately the final score of the half went to Harrow whose number 8 scored his second try of the game after they had recycled the ball through many phases. This made the half time score 12-8 to Harrow. The second half resumed with Dawe moving to scrum half from fly half where Healy took over and Tom Kiely came off the bench onto the right wing. Kiely made an immediate impact on the restart. He chased the long kick off and tackled the covering Harrow scrum half who spilled the ball to Lee who was able to pop it back to Kiely who scored to the left of the posts, Healy added the conversion to put Watford in the lead at 15-12. Disaster followed for the home side as they surrendered the resulting kick off and gave away a soft penalty. Their defensive line failed to regroup properly and the lack of organisation led Harrow to be able to recycle the ball and score in the left hand corner. Importantly their fly half kicked a touchline conversion to take the score to 19-15 to Harrow. For a 10 or 15 minute spell Harrow were then able to exert a huge amount of pressure on the home line, scrum after scrum must have sapped the strength of the Watford pack however the home side defended heroically and held up attackers over their dead ball line at least twice. Eventually though they yielded a penalty in front of the posts which Harrow gratefully accepted and took a seven point lead with about 10 minutes remaining. The last ten minutes were a little chaotic, with Watford running the ball from everywhere in search of an equalising try. Andre, Lee, Kiely and Johnson all made line breaks however either the pass went to ground or there was an unfortunate knock on at the crucial moment. Whenever Harrow got the ball their canny fly half kicked expertly for the corners both slowing the game down and ensuring that Watford had to counterattack from as deep as possible. Finally a great move starting in the Watford half involving Healy, Kiely and both centres ended up with the supporting Dawe scoring (his first try got the club) midway between the touchline and the posts. This pulled Watford back to within 2 points of the opposition but heartbreak followed as Healy pulled his conversion attempt slightly to the left of the posts. This was the last kick of the game and the draw which would probably have been a fair result to the home side was denied them. After the game Watford skipper Thompson remarked that his side took 'far too long to get going' and 'needed to turn up earlier and switch their heads on well in advance of kick off.' On the positive side they looked threatening through the backs throughout and could have won or drawn the game if Healy had slotted all his kicks home and Harrow had not kicked their superb touchline conversion. However Healy has got his side out of jail several times already this season and really thy side need to play the way they can for the full 80 minutes and not in sporadic patches. Watford - Reilly, Hassett, Jones, Andre, Davies, Bridge, Bennett, Ainslie (Mullins), Thompson (Tom Kiely), Dawe, Johnson, Sven, Lee, Healy, Frankish (Rose). Tries - Johnson Dawe Kiely Conversion - Healy Penalty - Healy Man of the Match - Dawe Report by Andy Frankish |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|