Harrow rise to third place

Harrow 18 Upper Clapton 8

Harrow battled through monsoon conditions for a win over Upper Clapton which lifted them to third place in the Herts/Mid- dlesex League (Division One) and set up an intriguing encounter for Saturday with a visit to UCSOB.

Harrow had the galeforce wind at their backs in the first half, but failed to exploit it in the opening 20 minutes when they were kept on the defensive.

Then Greg Nowak put them ahead with a penalty, only for the visitors to level with their own kick.

From the restart, however, a moment of brilliance from young wing Barrie Whitehead put Harrow on the road to victory.

Upper Clapton lost the ball in a powerful tackle by fly-half Dave Smith, in excellent form throughout.

Whitehead swooped on the loose ball close to touch on the halfway line and with apparently no room, slipped through the first line of defence and outpaced the cover for a magnificent try in the corner -- his first in league rugby.

On the stroke of half-time, Nowak kicked another penalty from 45 metres, giving Harrow an 11-3 interval lead.

Harrow's pack gave a superb display of how to play against the wind, constanty turning their bigger opponents. Solid defensive work by the backs supported this effort and enabled Harrow to keep their line in tact.

Then they landed the decisive score when Adam Rodger broke from a scrum and and darted through, slipping the ball inside for replacement second row Ian Holde to crash over for the try.

Nowak added an excellent conversion into the teeth of the wind to seal the result, although the visitors replied with a consolation try.

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