London Three North Play-off Welwyn 19 Harlow 6

Welwyn secured a well-deserved promotion to London Two North on Saturday with an emphatic victory over Harlow. Peter Engledow's men beat the London Three North East runners-up 19-6 in the final game of the season at Handside. Tries by left wing James Turnbull, full back Luke Williams and right wing Peter Elliott secured the home side a place in a higher division next season against the likes of Tabard and Letchworth.

Welwyn selected a strong team for their promotion date with destiny, with Henry Child and Justin Joubert in the centre and Gareth Hughes and Mark Cullen forming a half-back partnership. The front row comprised of Grant Keeler, hooker Simon Banks and South African prop Jacques Naude, with William Freeston and skipper Dave Orton in the second row. Flankers Rob James and Owen Hopley and No 8 Rob Picken completed the pack.

There was a palpable air of expectation before kick-off with a large crowd at Hobbs Way to cheer both sides on. Harlow kicked off with the slight slope advantage in the first half, with a swirling crosswind from their left. Their first serious attack yielded a penalty, but the visitors' lineout from a kick to the corner was held up by Welwyn, who gained possession and Child put in a good clearance to the 10 metre line on the Welwyn left.

The Essex side tried to dominate the opening phases physically, but Welwyn defended well and their forwards soon started to gain the ascendancy. The home team, however, were caught offside at a ruck in front of their posts and Harlow outside half Nick Ford opened the scoring with an easy penalty kick. The combination of the wind and a hard, dusty pitch made it imperative that the ball was not allowed to bounce but both sides were guilty of this error, resulting in a scrappy passage of play with frequent scrums for knock-on offences.

The superiority of the Welwyn pack eventually started to show itself, with the home team driving the visitors backwards at scrums and gaining a steady supply of balls against the head. However, Harlow were given another penalty after about 20 minutes play when Welwyn were adjudged guilty of going over the ball in a ruck and Ford increased the visitors' lead to 6-0 with a good kick from the right of the posts. This spurred the home team into action and a drive up the left by Williams took the ball into the Essex side's 22. Welwyn took another scrum against the head after a knock on and the ball eventually went into touch on the Harlow five metre line. From the restart the ball was moved right and Joubert sprinted through between the defending centres and slipped a pass, allowing Turnbull to race over under the posts. Hughes kicked the conversion to give the home team the lead for the first time in the match at 7-6. Welwyn never look like losing that advantage and the half ended with a driving run by Turnbull, with the ball eventually going into touch close to the try-line.

The wind had strengthened by the start of the second half and was now blowing diagonally across the pitch towards the Welwyn right. The home side took advantage of the difficult conditions, making far fewer errors than in the first half, and a series of kicks pinned the visitors back in the own 22. A clearance by Harlow was kept in play and gathered by Williams, who placed a high kick into the Harlow 22 in the middle of the field. Two defenders went for the ball, but neither claimed it and the ball bounced off them to be collected by the onrushing Williams, who was able to sprint past and touch down under the posts. Hughes made the simple conversion to increase the home side's lead to 14-6. That was the turning point of the match.

Welwyn continued to dominate the third quarter of the game, with the back row winning several lineouts and disrupting the infrequent Harlow attacks. But the bounce of the ball from a defensive kick by Harlow nearly defeated the home defence, but the visiting right winger was tackled into touch near the corner. Play, however, was brought back to the Harlow 22 as the referee was indicating a penalty to the home side. This was duly put into touch on the Harlow five metre line, but Welwyn knocked on from the lineout. Another strike against the head saw them regain possession from the resulting scrum and Welwyn mounted a series of attacks on the Harlow line, with the ball moving to the left and then the right. Scrum-half Cullen collected from a ruck in front of the posts and made a darting run to the right, before linking well with the forwards who created space for winger Elliott to dive over in the corner. The difficult conversion into the wind was missed, but Welwyn were now comfortably ahead at 19-6.

Needing two converted tries to salvage the match, Harlow started to press and gain more possession in the final quarter of the game, which was played mainly in the Welwyn half. Engledow's heroes defended well, with their line never seriously threatened and when the final whistle blew Welwyn's victory was greeted with loud cheers from the home supporters.

The promotion celebrations continued in the clubhouse long after the game had finished on Saturday and Welwyn can now look forward to a return to London Two North next season.