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EASTERN COUNTIES LEAGUE DIVISION ONE: Fakenham 6 Haverhill 25. Match report.

With a penalty count of over 20, a yellow card and one unconverted try in the first half, to a single penalty count and four unconverted tries in the second half, this truly could be described as a tale of two halves.

Haverhill, against the wind and slope, started well, pressurising the Fakenham side from the off and getting a penalty on one minute. The Kieran Ewens kick looked great for the three points, but hit the bar and bounced back onto the field of play.

Brad Gibson, playing the basic rugby rule of 'follow the kick', intercepted the ball and punched a hole into the opposition defence, superbly setting the ball for the forwards to clean up, and scrum half Hope to spin out to the blind side for Simon Lester to receive the final pass for the first try of this year's campaign on two minutes.

Haverhill were working well, with scrum, line and maul impressing. On ten minutes, Sam Powell powered out of the back of the maul, gaining hard yards and sucking the Fakenham men in, releasing Ewens for a seriously penetrative run, moving play forward a further 30 metres.

The run was so fast, on tackle the back-up was not there and Haverhill were penalised again for holding on.

On 13 minutes the referee kept his promise on infringements and binned the hooker Jackson and Haverhill were down to 14 men. Ben Jones came on as a front row replacement.

Fakenham pressurised Haverhill, but great work from Powell, Flannery, huge tackles from Gibson at centre and a crunching Mike Woods save on the line kept the opposition out.

With a minute of the card left, Haverhill won a penalty to keep the score to nil for the card, but stupidly backchatted the referee, who immediately reversed the award, and Haverhill found themselves at 3-5 on 23 minutes.

Haverhill won a first penalty for foul play (late hit) but did not make the touch and then proceeded to backchat the referee on the return ball to allow Fakenham to take the lead on 36 minutes from the resulting penalty at 6-5.

Haverhill came back with the wind in the second half and started to show great work around the park, winning scrum ball at ease against the head.

Pressure was telling and drives by Powell and Patrick almost led to line crossing, but Fakenham regularly turned the ball over to clear.

On 53 minutes Haverhill were penalised for a tackle on the man without the ball, but won the resulting line-out with a huge jump from Powell. A quick ball from Hope found Ewens, who made good yards, then Lester to Gibson, timing his pass to perfection to release Patrick for a score in the corner.

Haverhill were back at Fakenham from the kick, with Powell setting the ball well for Lester to attack down the wing getting to five metres. Fakenham managed to clear, but Patrick took a great catch on the line, to be met by a Kung Fu-style tackle from his opposite number, which he dealt with the skill of a player of many more years' experience.

Haverhill, through quick play on 60 minutes, achieved a four-man overlap and a certain try, but the referee, to the consternation of the away support, awarded a penalty to Haverhill on the 22m line. This was put down to a Haverhill player saying that it was a penalty, so the referee gave it.

From a line-out, Haverhill released the backs and superb quick ball allowed Lester to cross the line for his second try and Haverhill's third on 68 minutes for 15-6.

Haverhill were now in the ascendency and the Fakenham winger decided to take the law into his hands by head-butting Ewens. He immediately saw red and Ewens was substituted by Jones, while Alex Hill was replaced by Adam Curtis.

With the new scoring system, Haverhill were one try away from a bonus point for four tries, so the crowd were surprised to see a two-man overlap being ignored for the attack to cut back into the defence and a resulting lost ball.

However, within a minute, Powell again won good ball in the line-out and quick hands resulted in a hat-trick try for Lester in the far corner and the extra point.

From the kick, Flannery showed how a try can be made from the off, with a great catch and drive, consuming opposition players as he went.

Ransome intercepted the pass at full speed, taking out further players, and then a telling kick from Hope was swept up by Gibson, who did a huge swallow-dive to cross the line for 25-6. A very good effort at the kick from prop Quinney just missed the upright.

With four minutes to go, Haverhill were hoping to put at least one more score on the board as they were dominant everywhere. However, the last attack fell just short and the Fakenham full back cleared for the final whistle.

Haverhill's lip let them down and they must learn to remain disciplined all the time, but this was a superb result away from home in Norfolk.

The team travel to Ipswich YM next week in the Junior Vase and will host Ely at home in the league in two weeks.