Strong win against Harpenden

The Old Priorians were back at home this weekend against mid table opponents Harpenden. The OP's were determined to keep up their fantastic start to the season, and to extend their unbeaten run at 'Fortress Perivale'.

The OP's started with the wind behind them and in full spirits, however, Harpenden were not in the mood to just roll over. Even with the strong wind behind them, the OP's could only go into the half time break with an 8-0 lead. A penalty early doors from the ever reliable James Booth started them off early, and a great try finished by George Majstrorovic and started by their strong running centre David Wilkie who made a 15 metre break from the half way before feeding his brother and captain Andrew Wilkie who off loaded to Majstrorovic to go over from 20 metre, were the only points OP's could muster.

Harpenden defended for their lives and cleared the ball whenever possible. OP's made far too many mistakes with ball in hand and couldnt benefit from the lion's share of possession they had.

Some strong words from coaches Anthony Andrews and Paul Jackson at half time fired the OP's up to start the second half into the wind, knowing they had an uphill battle if they wanted to carry on with their strong start to the season and get another bonus point from the game.

Harpenden used the wind well early doors, much better then the Old Priorians had done. The Old Priorians slowly chipped away at Harpenden and it didnt take long for some defencive errors from the visiting team that lead to Blind side flanker Jarleth Hughes crashing over from close range. Soon after, the Old Priorians got a line out 15m from the try line and it was then up to their impressive forward pack to start a fantastic driving mall which was cleverly moved in field, and then stolen by scrum half Michael Simpson to dive over from 2 metre out.

The OP's felt like they were on a roll and it took some strong defence from Harpenden to keep them out. Some last ditch defence kept winger Myles Stringer out in the corner in a very close call, but with 10 minutes remaining the OP's still pushed hard for their bonus point try which eventually came from a fantastic line from David Wilkie who went under the posts untouched. Some brilliance from impressive scrum half Michael Simpson set up their 5th and final try 30 seconds later as he fielded a wayward kick, beat 2 or 3 defenders before putting a wide pass out to left winger Sam Codrington who fed top try scorer and inside centre Jack Dever to go over for his 9th try of the season.

The Harpenden team threw everything at the OP's for the final few minutes, building a strong attack. OP's defended ferociously but gave away some penalties in quick succession. Harpenden kept going quick and OP's kept giving away penalties, which lead to the ref putting his arm up for a penalty try. Final score 36-5 to OP's making it 6 wins in 6 games with 6 bonus points. Next week they travel to St. Albans who are sitting one place above Harpenden in the league table.

6th November 2013