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Harborough are the defending Champions, so have a lot to live up to and did not disappoint, ending the game with seven unanswered tries.

A determined Loughborough outfit were obviously up for the game and took the challenge to the home side. Harborough pinned the visitors in their own half, but Loughborough’s defence was resolute. Until Jack Woodward made the first of his many breaks and released Ed Duggan to score on the wing.

The contest stayed very even, and Harborough were pushed in to a number of handling errors and penalties. Loughborough put Harborough under pressure in their own 22 and were pushing for the line until Max Dalby hacked forward and continued to break away for the length of the pitch, but was not able to put the finishing touch for the score. The forwards kept punching away at the line from the resulting scrum, with Jake Davis making his debut for the Club, before releasing the backs for Dalby to get his reward.

Harborough’s back row combined well all game, and the trio of Harry Grimmett, James Melody and Will Hallam made a fine break with running support play. Woodward scored after Harborough’s forwards disrupted at the line out, the second row of Cameron Jordan and Alejandro Scott working hard. The tight five kept the ball alive again before the backs combined for Spencer Derry to score on the wing. Will Hallam converted this one to make the half time score for 22 – 0.

The second half saw Harborough varying their game strategy, with Tom Pope kicking more to pin Loughborough back in their own half. A huge offensive defence strategy by Harborough shut Loughborough out, Melody making a real nuisance of himself.

Duggan scored again to take the score to 27 – 0 and the game started to plateau. Loughborough continued to batter away at Harborough but could not make any progress. More strong running from Duggan and Woodward, and quick ball from the resulting ruck led to a score for Theo Haynes on the wing. Hallam converted again and Harborough were out of sight at 34 – 0. The last score of the game went to Grimmett, a well deserved try for the back row. Hallam converted for a final score of 41 – 0.