Haverhill 27 Brightlingsea 3

From the start, Haverhill were on the front foot and this was to continue all afternoon with Brightlingsea trying to spoil as much as possible.

Haverhill started with some positive running lines by both backs and forwards and were awarded with a penalty that Jake Jeffs kicked on five minutes to settle any nerves.

From the re-start a good return by the backs and forwards saw Kieron McDonagh take the final pass and dive to the corner with Jeffs adding the conversion.

With the visitors competing well in the line-out it was the Haverhill forwards that totally dominated the scrummage, seeing them push back their opponents at every scrum.

A solid scrum in the visitors’ 22 on 27 minutes saw the elusive, strong-running Monty Beaton break the defence and dive over the line for a fine try with Jeffs adding the conversion.

Haverhill got another penalty just before half-time that Jeffs converted.

From the restart the visitors’ only foray into the Haverhill 22 saw them win a penalty and Ian Wilkinson stepped up and converted it to bring the score to 17-3.

Haverhill then laid siege to the visitors’ line and McDonagh launched his way over the line for his second try, the conversion just missing for 22-3.

McDonagh then forced his way over for his third try of the match, with the conversion missing as Haverhill retained the shield that they won last year.