I Haven’t Stopped Dancing Yet

The players took the field with a level of trepidation. This has always been a close encounter and whoever takes the field, both squads know how hot the contest has always been.

Harborough settled into the game well and looked solid and structured. Gathering a Sils clearance kick, Keiran Silcott carried the ball up well and sliced himself a gap, offloading to Jack Woodward who used the space to race over. A conversion by Will Hallam and Harborough were ahead.

Harborough doubled their lead when Mathew Stamp darted over from the base of a ruck after a series of hard drives by the forwards. Hallam again converted. The next try and conversion took Harborough 21 – 0 up and they were soaring. A lovely back row and backs move first saw Hallam combine well with Will Nijjer, who carried powerfully before offloading to Huw Davies to unleash Ed Duggan on the wing; a move that would be successfully repeated several times.

Sils did grab a score back before the break, but to be 21 – 7 up at half time was testament to the effort of the Harborough team, and their support for one another.

The Nijjer, Davies, Duggan axis hit the point again early in the second half, with Duggan scoring in the corner. Hallam scored next with a hack forward and chase, eluding the defence to dive on the ball.

But Sils were not taking this lying down. With two quick converted tries it looked like they might be back in the game at 31 – 21. Harborough kept their cool and slowed the pace with a penalty kick to touch. Winning the line out, they set up a driving maul from which Adam Stamp dashed to the line from close range.

Duggan wrapped things up with a deserved hat trick, again being released down the left wing for the score. The win was a huge boost for the squad, who played with great heart and commitment to achieve a hard earned result. Good work boys.