Harlow vs Hatfield
Harlow vs Hatfield

Hatfield Queen Elizabeth continued their winning streak by out battling a strong and determined Harlow team to win 26-10.

Coach Ian Matthews had some enforced changes to the team including giving debuts to Konrad Konwalik, Shivendra Singh and Julius Madepi, none of which had played a game of rugby before. Jim Cooper also made his debut for HQE.

The team start slowly making several errors, but started to make process and getting on the front foot, whilst absorbing pressure from Harlow, who had a strong, hard running pack playing very simple rugby.

Hatfield were the first team to strike with Samuel Kasujja Mirembe, who went on a rampaging run to crash over the line and open up the team’s scoring account.

It wasn’t long before Hatfield added to their score with a well-worked move by the backs. Fly Half Charlie Gibbs and Centre Luke Goodwin combined and supported each other for Goodwin to take the ball over the line.

Harlow fought back and crossed the white wash on the stroke of halftime making it 12-5 to the away team.

The second half saw Hatfield making some enforced changes due to injury, but the replacements were strong.

Although the scoring slowed down in the second half, Jacob Locke-Gotel, Chris Seaborne and Conrad Omadi worked hard in defence, with Omadi making a try-saving tackle.

Jim Cooper, on his debut scored a magnificent try. Cooper collected the ball on his own halfway line, powered past the opposition to score under the posts.

The final 20 minutes were very tense with the HQE players working hard, being physical and aggressive. The team’s fitness shone through in the closing moments with Fly Half Gibbs stepping several players to score just before the final whistle. Gibbs try made the final score 26-10 to Hatfield.

After the game, Matthews said of his team: “The team showed good organisational skills in defence to make lots of tackles, putting pressure on the opposition, and causing them to make mistakes. It was a fantastic hard-fought victory, and the team performed well for the 80 minutes. The showed true strength of character in the dying minutes of the game, absorbing the pressure from the opposition. There were a lot of players making their debuts for the club today, and they all played well.”

Hatfield return to training on Thursday night, looking towards next weekend’s game away to a strong Biggleswade side.