A Tale of Two Thorntons as Vets and Twos combine

With injuries, illness, late drop outs and some not bothering to turn up the Vets and 2nds who turned up at Northampton Road looked around the dressing room and counted 11 players and that included Mark Thornton who was persuaded to leave his comfy chair by son Jake. Fortunately Kettering had turned up with their formidable Vets whose game had been cancelled and agreed to loan players to make up two full sides. Things looked a bit brighter as Sean Morris turned up to watch and was sent away to get his kit. With Harborough unable to field a front row the scrums were uncontested which meant at least that Harborough had good ball and with whipper-snapper Simon Dowling at 9 and twinkle toes Russ Williamson at 10 Harborough soon got their back line moving and with centres David Shepherd and Charlie Standley in sparkling form they almost crossed the line within a few minutes only for the final pass to go astray. They did however succeed a few minutes later as Williamson put Shepherd clear and once the space was created there was no stopping speed merchant Standley who touched down under the posts with Williamson converting. They then committed the fatal error of immediately conceding a soft try to Kettering and the scores were level. With Kev Howley at prop and Alex Houghton at hooker Harborough were conceding on average about 3 stone a man up front as the flankers were 2 backs, Jack Williams and Joel Nance, the latter throwing into the line out for the first time ever – and it showed - although as Harborough were not putting men in the air there was no real target. This meant that Harborough were getting very little if any line out ball but the work in the loose was outstanding given the size difference. Sadly Sam Hall had to leave the field early but moving Jack Williams to full back and bringing Sean Morris on to play on the flank gave a better balance. Time and again as the Kettering pack tried to use their size and weight advantage they were tackled relentlessly and with Joel Nance and Sean Morris turning ball over it allowed Alex Houghton and Kev Howley (who was playing like a man possessed) to make strong runs. A further try followed again by Standley with Williamson converting and Harborough were 14-7 in the lead. They then committed the cardinal sin of being in total control before conceding an interception which enabled Kettering to run in under the posts but thankfully the conversion was missed. Harborough struck back with Jack Williams making a strong run and he released Jake Thornton who was running in unopposed only to be bought back for a previous knock on. By this time Kettering realised that they had to use their forwards in rolling mauls as their method of gaining ground and eventually they drove forward and touched down for a further try before a second soft interception allowed them to add a 4th try to lead 22-14 at half time. Harborough remained positive and struck back early in the second half when after a series of drives ended with the mean machine Kev Howley crossing the line for a try to bring the score to 19-22. Young Gareth Rees then made good ground but his kick ahead was marshalled into touch by Kettering. The visitors then muscled their way across the line for another score to lead 27-19 but skipper Dave Shepherd marshalled his troops for an extra effort to overturn that deficit. They responded by tackling everything that moved that included one double tackle by Sean Morris and Joel Nance that not only stopped their speedy winger in his tracks but almost took out the team manager as well. (Fortunately he can still move quickly when in danger of being flattened) Then it was a story of cometh the hour, cometh the man as the younger Kev Howley at last had to rest his weary body to be replaced by the more experienced Mark Thornton coming out of retirement once again at 58! He was determined to show his offspring, Jake and George that there was life in the older man and put in an excellent 12 minute cameo. Afterwards in the bar he was heard to say how he would tell workmates on Monday that he had played rugby at the weekend and remark that his 12 minutes cost him almost 50p a minute as Simon Dowling ensured he got his £5 match fee! Back to the game and despite great efforts it was Kettering that had the last laugh as their experience and guile saw them secure a ball at the line out and drive forward to cross the line for a final time that with the conversion brought the final score to 34-19 to the visitors. Harborough may have lost the game but all agreed afterwards that it was an excellent game to be involved in and they could not understand why more players fail to make themselves available