A Run for their Money

Saturday the 2nd April saw Market Harborough 2’s make the daunting journey to league leaders Leicester Lions. Having previously been on the end of a 71-7 drubbing by the men in purple, Harborough were keen to make amends this time round. With a number of regulars “unavailable” Captain Nick Airey was pleased to see the return of 4 University guys willing to play during one of their numerous holidays. The warm up featured a generally positive atmosphere, but Albert’s Spanish warmup calls were the general excuse for the abundance of dropped balls. With three colts making the step-up into the adult arena for such a tough fixture, it fell on the more experienced boys to take charge on the pitch, especially against an opposition as historically formidable as this one.

From the kick off, the Lion’s game plan was clear. A strong and sizeable forward pack meant they were intent on making yards up the middle of the park with strong close-quarter ball carries, and it wasn’t long until Harborough’s weak tackling was punished with a Lions try. Harborough realised early on that if this game was going to be won, it would have to be done so out wide. Seemingly minutes after conceding the first try, Harborough had penetrated the Lions’ 22 metre line, and were fiercely battling the opposition forwards. Soon, a minor mix-up in defence allowed Iain Barnett to sneak over in the corner to level the scores, but he was unable to convert the extras. Harborough’s confidence noticeably grew, but weak tackling was again our downfall, as the Lions’ lock ran in a brace and the opposition points began to build. Harborough then suffered the forced departure of Mike Alcorn whose fractured cheekbone saw him taken to hospital by Albert reducing the squad to 16. Mike’s removal opened the door for debutant colt Jack Roginski who ran hard and tackled industriously throughout the afternoon. The first half was generally one to forget. Despite Joel Nance’s clever chip through for a Ben Windle try, lacklustre defence meant the halftime whistle left Harborough 31-10 down. After a rousing half time team-talk from Nick Airey, the boys were fired up for what turned out to be a feisty second half.

Although Harborough were often slow to pick up the nippy Lions scrum-half, frequent steals from Alex Wright and Henry Moss allowed Harborough to retain a lot of possession in the second half. Eventually, the opposition dam broke once again, and Ben Windle capitalised on a questionable Lions pass to sneak over for his second, and the team’s third, try - Barnett narrowly missing the touchline conversion.

The Lions came back hard though, and Harborough were soon pinned on their own goal line following a succession of attacking lineouts. Even with uncontested scrums giving the opposition the perfect foundation for attack, the Harborough line held strong, repeatedly bullying the opposition backward. Time, however, was ticking away for the Harborough squad, who needed to start a fight-back sharpish, and tempers soon began to flare. A hideous pair of high tackles from the ill-mannered Lions centre led to his sin-binning, and Fergus Clarke soon followed suit, but the ref was given no option but to brandish a red card for Clarke’s dangerous tackle. Nick Airey could also be seen relieving some of his frustrations on the mid-section of Lions fly-half minutes later.

With both teams down to fourteen men the game opened up and Harborough were again able to make use of the space out wide as Barnett snuck over for his second try after strong running from Harris Medwell and Jack Roginski. Joel Nance and Ryan Gibson frequently opted for inside lines up the middle of the paddock, and both made consistently strong carries but this did cost Nance later however, when he at opted to use his considerable height to head back into Lions traffic, where he was swiftly lifted off his feet and carried backward, flailing and flapping for dear life.

In the dying moments of the game, the prophecy was uttered by Simon Medwell on the touchline as he called for a “length-of-the-field try”, and son Harris gladly obliged, bursting through the Lions’ defensive line and racing up the pitch to offload to Jack Smith for Harborough’s fifth try. Unable to slot the conversion, Harborough were left six points down - at 31-25 - when the final whistle was blown.

Having kept the opposition scoreless in the second half, Harborough can take great pride in the admirable fight back and the team will be left confident entering the final leg of the season.

By Fraser Harrop
Guest Reporter and Full Back