An exciting young Harborough first team completed the double over Bedfordshire heavyweights Dunstablians with a hard-earned 28-20 verdict at Northampton Road on Saturday.

In a bruising battle between sides whose promotion hopes have suffered setbacks in recent weeks it was the home side’s greater dynamism and constant aggression at the breakdown which proved decisive.

Both teams showed several injury-enforced changes from Harborough’s surprise 13-17 win at Houghton Regis in October and it was the men in black who adapted fastest, within the first five minutes forcing a penalty on Dees’ 10 metre line which full-back Ed Bale stroked between the uprights for a 3-0 lead.

With the back row of Luke Riordan, Harry Hollis and skipper Michael Goode scrapping like junkyard dogs at the breakdown Harborough secured the lion’s share of possession but too often in the first quarter failed to capitalise with a gluey ball and fallible passing combining to stymie flowing rugby. On fifteen minutes the Dees’ scrum half made a foray into Harborough territory, won a penalty which Kevin Boland converted to level matters at 3-3.

Responding immediately Michael Goode pierced the opposition’s midfield defence and supplied a cute, back-of-the-hand offload to Ed Bale who wriggled under the posts for the first try of the day. Bale was temporarily incapacitated in the act of scoring leaving the conversion to fly half Will Taylor who unfortunately struck the right upright off an unfamiliar tee.

A physical encounter at times threatened to spill over into something less savoury and both sides were reduced to fourteen men after Luke Riordan and Dees’ Tom Evans were sin-binned for a bout of grappling. The mercurial Bale rose above the melee to strike another successful penalty, extending Harborough’s lead to 11-3.

Dunstablians’ frustrations were obvious as they regularly incurred the official’s wrath at the breakdown, had a bad day at the office with their kicking from hand and as a result failed to relieve territorial pressure, and struggled to keep ball in hand in muddy conditions. A further Ed Bale penalty extended the half-time lead to 14-3 which in truth could have been more had Harborough’s accuracy in the final third matched their endeavour elsewhere.

The visitors, presumably after a half-time rocket, started the second period with a greater sense of purpose and reduced the arrears to 14-6 with an early Boland penalty.

However Harborough bounced straight back with a backs move straight off the training park. Will Taylor fed replacement centre Tansley Naylor on a piercing line through the opposition’s midfield who held off would-be tacklers to score a try reminiscent of Scott Gibbs breaking English hearts at Wembley in 1999. Callum Blair, Harborough’s third kicker of the day, added the extras for a 21-6 lead.

Dunstablians were not finished though and a series of missed tackles allowed dangerous centre Duncan Holmes to power over from 30 metres, Boland converted and it was game on.

A topsy-turvy match swung the home team’s way again when a well-executed blind side move with lightning hands from Taylor and Blair gave left wing Matt Burton the hint of an overlap and he finished clinically in the corner. Blair nailed the trickiest of conversions and with the score at 28-13 with over a quarter of the match remaining the home supporters’ thoughts turned to a bonus point.

On a pitch which by this time was badly churning up the match descended into a scrappy affair with both sides guilty of throwing away possession. Tom Lockwood was denied a score after the referee ruled a forward pass from Harry Hollis who had followed up a kick Dees’ back three failed to deal with, but it was the closest Harborough would come to another try.

A succession of injuries forced positional changes in the backs; Ed Bale moved up to scrum half in place of Dan Bailey, Dan Peart suffered a leg injury requiring Goode to move to centre and Shaun Morris reinforced the pack.

Understandably these losses affected the home side’s organisation and with 10 minutes remaining Dunstablians enjoyed a sustained period of pressure. They butchered a three-man overlap on the left wing but the resulting breakdown saw Bale sin-binned for over-zealous use of the boot at ruck time.

From the subsequent phase the visitors won a scrum on the right hand side, their pressure persisted and was rewarded with a penalty try, converted by Boland to claw the score back to 28-20.

The remainder of the game belonged to Dunstablians but in spite of a man disadvantage and others playing out of position sheer bloody-minded determination and desperate last ditch tackling ensured the Harborough line would be breached no more, denying the visitors a losing bonus point.

Harborough remain in sixth but victory in two of their three games in hand should see them leapfrog Old Scouts and Dunstablians into fourth. The first of these is next Saturday at perennial rivals Vipers who have not won since Christmas but we know from several years’ experience are a tough proposition on their own patch.

By Charlie Standley