The highly anticipated South Leicestershire derby was played out in front of a large crowd, a gentle breeze, and overcast conditions.
Lutterworth started on the front foot with a well worked forwards try. The impressive maul, altered the angle of attack to 45 degrees rather than a more traditional straight drive. It gave the Harborough defenders the difficult task of stopping Lutterworth's forward momentum. The try was duly converted and the visitors led 0-7.
Lutterworth had the better of early exchanges and Harborough would need to up their game to meet the well drilled visiting side. The Black Cats did exactly that gaining good field position and after a series of forward drives, Monty Maule, skipped over to reduce the arrears to 5-7.
Harborough were guilty of not turning good field position into points and after spending long periods in the Lutterworth half the scoreboard never ticked over. Pat Grady stormed into the opposition and Josh Ford in the lineout ensured continual pressure from the home side. Herdman, Williams and Moss continued to dent the visitors defence. However, a well worked break from deep inside the Lutterworth's twenty two nearly resulted in a second score but Harborough's defence scurried back into position to thwart the rapier thrust.
The first half whilst entertaining to the rugby connoisseurs, lacked action to stir the large crowd into life. The Lutterworth pack's defensive calls in defending the try line did ignite a few sparks and Jack Burrows encouraging words at scrum time were the exception.
Half time 5-7
Harborough certainly turned up the heat in the second half and continually probed and attacked, looking to breech the green, red and white defensive line. Harborough's front row began to turn the tide at scrum time. Lutterworth had their moments with Harry Wood and Charlie Turner leading forays into Harborough territory. Harry Read caught the eye with breaks and offloads.
The majority of play was now within the Lutterworth half, Harborough's pack and lineout was functioning well and an opportunist try from Josh Purnell resulted from pouncing on an errant Lutterworth pass. The home side now led 10-7. Jack Burrows ran himself into the ground, with good support from Spokes, Blades, Brown and Digby. It was a challenge to make enough meaningful breaks through Lutterworth backline. Slade, Lafferty, Rowlett, Claffey and Durham were ably directed by Monty Maul, but credit has to go to the visitors defence.
As the game approached the last 10 minutes a few mistakes crept into Harborough's game management. Lineouts turned a little scrappy and controlling the ball and field position began to bring the visitors back into the game. A few penalties allowed Lutterworth's confidence to grow. A switch of play and an electric run from Lutterworth's full back, Justin Trombas, brought Lutterworth to within a few metres of the try line. A couple of plays later and Lutterworth had scored. Read converted and the final whistle blew, the visitors had won 10-14. As low key as the first half was, the second half was a vast improvement.
Spectators from both sides would probably agree that this was a match Harborough should have won, but they didn't and it will be a bitter pill to swallow. Even though Harborough didn't get across the finish line, there were many positives in taking the league leaders so close. They matched them in nearly every department except the final score. Well played lads, a terrific effort.