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Cantabs faced their toughest match of the season so far with a home game against Harwich and Dovercourt who were promoted from EC2. With Harwich showing some impressive results against established EC1 teams such as Stowmarket Cantabs knew they to keep their spot on the top of EC1 a big performance from the front 5 was required. From the kick off it was evident that they would do exactly what was asked of them by disrupting the Harwich scrum and wined the 1st 3 scrums against the head. The pressure told with Dean James crossing the try line from a scrum won against the head.
However it was evident that Harwich were not going to roll over as easily as some teams have done, and with Cantabs giving away a number of penalties they kicked one to make it 5-3, Cantabs kicked on in return to make it 8-3 at half time. Almost straight from the 2nd half KO Cantabs put the pressure on up front, with a 35 meter rolling maul allowing Jonny Heaver to cross the line to make it 13-3.
Again Harwich came back, and although the Cantabs defense held firm another penalty allowed Harwich to draw closer and make it 13-6. The rest of the game was played mainly in the Harwich half and when Charlie Searle crossed the line it looked as if the pressure had finally been turned into more points. However the try was disallowed for off side and Harwich were eyeing up a losing bonus point. Cantabs however did not give up and 2 late tries from Pascal Relut made the final score 23-6 and gave Cantabs their 4th bonus point win in a row.
The next 4 games are against teams placed 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th in the league and a big step up is required if Cantabs want to stay top at the Christmas break.