Stairway to Sevens

First up in the pool stage were Hinckley, our County Cup final opponents this season. It turned out to be a slow start for the Harborough boys and the lowest try count of the day, despite Jack Woodward running in a hat trick and scoring one conversion for a scoreline of 17 – 0.

Next up were Stewarts & Lloyds from Corby, dispatched with a 43 – 0 victory. Will Nijjer scored a contender for try of the day with a 75 metre breakaway, and Max Dalby opened his account with a hat trick.

The final pool game was against Leighton Buzzard. Good to play some different opposition again, and a resounding 55 – 5 win meant Harborough topped their pool to go through to the semi-final.

Local rivals Lutterworth were the opponents and it took a while to get going with this one, Mathew Stamp finding the key to the floodgates to open up a 34 – 0 lead. Lutterworth fought back with great spirit to put two tries against a tiring Harborough and make the final score 34 – 12.

Having started the day under a blanket of cloud and rain, the final was played in warm spring sunshine. Hinckley had made it through to the final from being runner up in the pool stages and were looking threatening, having overcome a useful looking Cambridge outfit in the semi. But they were to be undone by Harborough with seven unanswered tries, including one for Max Dalby that probably pipped Will Nijjer’s for the best of the day. Ross Primrose made a fantastic solo break before drawing the defence to release Dalby, still with work to do and charging over the line. The final score was 37 - 0.

Dalby ended up as top scorer for the day with a ‘Magnificent Seven’, made possible by a superb team display. The boys played with smiles on their faces and went home with the silverware.