The Omens were telling us something even before the game, with several regular first team players unavailable, illness striking a few others & a 10 tonne lorry making a wrong decision, running straight over the roundabout at Stanborough Lakes a few miles from our destination and the resulting road closure/diversion caused several boys to be late for the warm up.

Unlike the rest of the season, we started slowly, appearing to be still in our beds and not on the pitch. We soon found out that we were in a huge battle, Harrow’s lighter pack at scrum time were very good, with newcomer Ollie hooking the ball well and the pack won many scrums even against the head. This gave us relatively quick, clean ball from forwards to the backs via our scrum half, Eddie, who distributed well to Luke Seagon. Despite the rain & mud, we seemed to pass the ball down the line well, but never seemed to go forward which became a feature of the game and helped the oppositions mid field to close us down & restrict our attacking options. Within 10 mins, we were 2 tries down and hadn’t ventured into the oppositions half as the OV’s number 8 & a supporting cast had dominated us in the loose & particularly from the back of the few scrums that they actually won.

When we did use the space out wide, we looked dangerous however our players ran back into contact too many times when we had players or space outside. At least 3 try scoring opportunities were missed as our wrong decision making squandered the hard fought territory gained contesting possession in the loose, at break downs, scrums & lineouts.

After, a chat & refocus at half time, we asked the team who were 15 points to Nil down to try & impose our game style & pressure on OV’s. The second half saw us score a long range try, Aaron running at speed, was more direct, showing agility & a strong fend to get across the gain/tackle line & ran 40+ yards to be halted illegally by a high tackle 5 yards out, which resulted in a penalty try & conversion. Our increased pressure & line speed began to tell more as we became more competitive, Coalite who is having an excellent season, once again, didn’t leave anything on the field and even though he made a couple of poor long passes, you could not fault his ambition & continued to battle away tirelessly – great effort. The relentless pressure & a tiring Harrow team gave too much space at a break down and a bonus point try 5 mins from the end, saw OV’s run 50 yards uncontested as we couldn’t match the pace.

Highlight of the day: Our set piece throughout the game was the best that they had performed all season, we won ball against the head at scrum time, in particular our starting front row (Jake, Ollie & Matthew) were solid & the pack competed and won line outs when not on our throw – Well-done boys

Areas for improvement:

· Work on phase play and decision making identifying space or overlaps

· Positional play (tactics) and game awareness to include roles & responsibilities

· Personal responsibility – Better preparation on & off the pitch to include improved fitness, attitude to training, rest – good night’s sleep, your kit/not your parents - boots, gum shields etc.

OV’s/Welwyn 24 - 7 Harrow

Tries: Penalty Try, converted by Luke Seagon.

A BIG THANK YOU to all the players who turned up & played. Despite the poor weather & muddy pitch, it was a good morning of Rugby & both sets of boys showed determination, skills & effort and played in the right spirit. Even though the result & overall performance was below par, there were some positives from the day and number of things to work on before our next big game against Twickenham RFC on the 10th Jan 2016.

Thanks to Jo for arranging all to be in attendance & for OV’s/Welwyn RFC for being great hosts.

Please remember Rugby's core values - Respect, Discipline, Sportsmanship, Enjoyment, Teamwork