Aldeburgh 43 Harwich 0
Another emphatic victory
Two more new players this week; clear signs that higher attendance at training is making a difference on the pitch; a good crowd, fine weather and a resounding victory. This season gets better and better. (And, yes, there are some tougher matches ahead.)
After only four minutes the pattern of the match was set. James Ledger put in one his trademark drives forward, the ball was quickly recycled and moved swiftly between a mix of backs and forwards. Eventually it came to Lewis Wardell Bird, a flanker popping up at outside centre, who drew the last defender, giving Ed Robson, back from injury, a clear run to the line.
Aldeburgh continued to play fluid rugby. The next try came after twelve minutes when a messy Aldeburgh line out was cleared up by scrum half, Jed Gallant, who made a darting break before linking with his back line. New centre, Antonio Monteiro (only with us for a year sadly), surged towards the line. He was held up but Aldeburgh recycled allowing Toby Mann, No 8, to drive over the line.
Straight from the kick off, Aldeburgh moved the ball back up the field well. A deep kick by Ed Robson was well chased and the ball re-gathered. Antonio put in a short kick ahead which winger Barnaby Knight was agonisingly close to collecting for a free run in.
At this stage, Aldeburgh were also dominating in the set scrums. In the loose, there were surging runs by second row Freddie Burgess, hooker Jon Taylor and Toby Mann before Jed Gallant picked up from another maul, spun a long pass to Ed who fired out a huge pass straight to winger Adam Hateley, freeing him up to dot down in the corner. Having missed the first two conversions, Ed put this one over from the touchline. 17-0.
Although Harwich were under pressure from the start, they continued to compete. In the second quarter they gradually made inroads into Aldeburgh’s half. From an Aldeburgh scrum close to their own line, Ed Robson kicked deep. The Harwich winger evaded the onrushing tackler. For a moment, he appeared to have a clear run at the line until Jed Gallant covered brilliantly, smashing him into touch.
Just before half time, full back Robert Poll, who was safe under the high ball all afternoon, collected a deep kick, returned it far enough to allow the chasers to tackle the catcher. Under pressure, Harwich tried to put in a clearance kick which Jon Taylor caught brilliantly and set off for the line. A couple of passes later, Toby Mann went over for his second try. Ed converted this one from the touchline too.
There was time for Aldeburgh to win a scrum against the head to underline their dominance of the first half.
Half time score: 24-0
The home support was expecting a rout in the second half but, to Harwich’s credit, it continued to be a competitive contest until the last few minutes. Nevertheless, Aldeburgh stayed on top, playing enterprising rugby. It was good to see that, although Freddie Burgess had constrained his passing style to eliminate from his game the back of the hand pass, his creativity found an outlet through the boot with a delicate kick through which was followed by some more excellent Aldeburgh play before flanker Aonghus Anderson went over for the first try of the second half, duly converted by Ed Robson.
It appeared that Aldeburgh had scored another try from a huge Ed Robson pass but this one was adjudged to have gone forward.
Most of the second half was a stalemate. However, in the final ten minutes, Aldeburgh pinched a couple more tries. After continuous Harwich pressure, Ed put in a superb clearing kick deep into the Harwich half. Replacement winger, Brandon Russell tackled the full back, recovered first and gathered the ball with time to jog over for the try under the posts which Ed converted.
The last few minutes saw the try of the game when Jake Taylor, replacement at full back, gathered deep in the Aldeburgh 22, put in a Phil Bennett-like sidestep then ran brilliantly, passed to Antonio who made ground and timed his pass to Brandon who turned on his considerable pace to round the defence and score under the posts.
All told, Aldeburgh scored seven tries of which Ed converted four.
Final score: Aldeburgh 43 Harwich 0.