The crowd that had gathered in the late autumn sunshine at Redbourn Lane would never have expected such a dynamic start from the home side, despite their imperious 2023 record on the AGP.

A flurry of three tries in the opening eight minutes put Harps into a remarkable 19-0 lead against unbeaten league leaders Colchester.
The first came from tight head prop Ben Campion who picked a brilliant line and showed some neat footwork to break through the visitors’ defence and score.

The second, a wonderful combination of fortune and skill saw Jimmy Speirs charge down a midfield kick, nudge it towards the line with his foot and regather off the post protector to make it 14-0. Then, Conor McClean added the third as he finished off a wonderful move down the left wing.

The away side looked somewhat shell shocked and it took them some time to find their stride. However, once they did, Harpenden were under significant pressure. Whilst successful in keeping them out, Attfield succumbed to a yellow card but Harps were able to prevent any impact on the scoreboard. A second yellow went to McKenzie-Cardy on the stroke of half time and eventually the defence relented from a maul for Roussow to score leaving the score 19-7 at the break.

The second period began much as the first had ended with Colchester eager to get themselves back into the game and chipped away at the Harpenden lead further with a try from Varela within the first few minutes. The kicking between the two sides proved to be main battleground for yards as the half wore on.

Eventually with 10 minutes left on the clock, Varela scored his second to bring the visitors level. Once again, this fixture was poised with nothing separating the two sides.

Ollie Mann edged Harpenden ahead with a penalty but almost immediately from the kick off with an excellent try finished off by Mpailane. The conversion made the score 22-26. It was Harps who were the team to have the final say. A kick to touch from a penalty gave the platform and after a number of phases the ball found its way to second row Sturley who produced a magnificent miss pass to put Wilkinson into space to score and give Harpenden a memorable win.

The win still leaves Harps in 2nd place and they travel to 3rd placed Oundle on Saturday afternoon for a double header with the 2s, 2pm kick off.

Harpenden: McKenzie-Cardy, Sims, Campion, Sturley, Lacey, Merrett, Attfield, Ward, Gulliford, Mann, Ashwell, Speirs, McClean, Sweeney, Boynes.
Reps: Bloisi, Wilkinson, Deane