Seconds Success

Both sides’ preparations were disrupted by a half-hour delay to kick off when the home team had to find a replacement referee as the original failed to show up.

It was Harborough who responded best, their forwards completely dominating the set piece from the off, and from a series of drives scrum half Iain Barnett found space around the fringes to score under the posts. Harris Medwell added the conversion.

Sam Blades’ men enjoyed the firm conditions underfoot and ran the ball from all corners. Another probing run from Barnett gave rangy back-rower Jack Brown space to out-sprint the defence and score the second of the afternoon. Again Medwell converted.

A lapse of concentration from the kick off allowed the home side to exploit an overlap and score in the corner. However before half-time Harborough got their third when powerful flanker Kristian Bale barrelled over the line, taking a number of Spalding tacklers with him, making the score at the interval 5-19.

The second half began in the same vein with Harborough dominating exchanges in the tight and finding gaps out wide, from which flying winger John Corby found enough space to beat his man and score in the corner. Medwell added the extras with a fine conversion from the touchline.

Fearing a rout, Spalding reinforced their ranks with a number of experienced players and Harborough persistently incurred the wrath of the referee at the breakdown meaning their advantage in the tight often counted for naught. Soon afterwards the home side hit back to make the score 12-26.

A period of stalemate ensued, ultimately broken by Harborough whose backs fielded a loose Spalding kick, ran the ball into the danger zone where lock Ryan Gibson muscled over the line for a decisive score, converted again by Medwell for a 12-33 score line.

Spalding struck back immediately through their forwards, 17-33, but the last hurrah belonged to Harborough. Aggressive work in the loose put the forwards in range and effervescent number eight George Lee crowned a swaggering performance with a short range try to make the final score 17-38.

Club spokesman Charlie Standley said: ‘This was a really satisfying showing: a convincing away win against seasoned opponents by a team in which there was one player over the age of 30. It certainly bodes well for next year’.

On Saturday (11th April) Harborough’s first team have their final league fixture of the season, hosting Oakham at Northampton Road when they hope to make it four wins on the bounce.