NORTH WALSHAM   10   HRFC   30

National 3 South

Hav’s long trip to north Norfolk was rewarded with a convincing victory, their first away win of the season, although ‘the Vikings’, who for years have been strong contenders at this level are not currently the force they were.

With Liam Davenport a late cry off with flu, Simon Cole was given a start at scrum half, with the rest of the backs being the same as for the previous league fixture. Up front, the regular group of Stuart Ingram, Tom Drewett and Tom Wells formed the front row, with Nick Whittle and Matt Morgan in the engine room. ‘Maku’ Karoiyadi was given his first start at ‘6’, joining Steve Cruddas and leading scorer Dylan Raubenheimer in the back row.

It took only 4 minutes for Hav to get their noses in front, when they were awarded a penalty in front of the posts, which Pucs Ngapaku, easily converted. With the home side patently lacking in confidence, Hav were soon 10-0 ahead when Dylan Raubenheimer scored one of his trademark touch downs, after the familiar catch and drive: Pucs scoring an excellent conversion from the touchline.

Coming back into the game, mainly thanks to Hav’s poor midfield tackling, the home side managed to reduce the arrears when they caught Hav asleep by taking a quick penalty, just inside the 22, and running in on the blind side, to make it 10-5 with a quarter of the game gone.

Hav reopened the gap 5 minutes later when the prolific Raubenheimer repeated his earlier move to score his second to make it 15-5.

For the rest of the half, neither side gained any real advantage, and scoring opportunities tended to be missed, thanks mainly to mistakes rather than effective defence.

It looked like North Walsham had the more influential half time team talk, for, within a couple of minutes of the restart they had moved aggressively to earn a line out near the Hav line. However the resultant drive was thwarted and a North Walsham prop was consigned to the ‘bin’ to reflect on the error of his ways, and Hav were able to clear.

It was they who next mounted an attack and were awarded with a further three points when Pucs kicked an easy penalty to make it 18-5. An excellent 40 metre run by centre Richard Buck into the home 22 started the best try of the match. He was stopped, but managed to enable the ball to be played back, and a neat little inside pass from his fellow centre Jamie Knowles set flanker Steve Cruddas clean through to score under the posts. Pucs’ kick made it 25-5, and a Hav away win was beginning to look secure: what was needed was another try to secure the bonus point as well.

It took a while for it to come, and it was no surprise that it came from a forward move. When North Walsham were awarded a scrum 5 metres out, it wheeled and Hav were given the put in. A good drive forward resulted in Matt Morgan (now playing at no 8) touching down, to make it 30-5, with only 5 minutes plus stoppage time to go.

To their credit, the remainder of the game went to the home side, who had Hav desperately defending near their own line. Steve Cruddas was yellow carded for a perpetual ‘team infringement’ in trying to prevent the line being breached, and then, with the final play of the match, the home side did manage break through to score in the corner, and with the conversion missed, it finished at 30-10.

It was a result that keeps us moving up the table, and, regrettably, keeps long time 'friends' North Walsham firmly in last spot! We did have to work hard for the win, but much of this was because we made it hard work for ourselves, particularly through missing first time tackles. We'll need to 'up the performance' if we are to get the better of a resurgent Cinderford at Hooks Lane next week-end.

Hav:

Steve Stapleton, Richard Adams, Richard Buck, Jamie Knowles, Dickie Duke, Pucs Ngapaku, Simon Cole (Grant Morris)

Stu Ingram (capt) (Karl Randle), Tom Drewett, Tom Wells, Nick Whittle (Ben Morgan), Matt Morgan (Ollie North), Maku Karoiyadi, Steve Cruddas, Dylan Raubenheimer (Matt Morgan)

Hav Scorers

Tries: Dylan Raubenheimer (2), Steve Cruddas, Matt Morgan  Cons: Pucs Ngapaku (2), Pens: Pucs Ngakau (2)

North Walsham Scores

Tries: 2