U15s v Melton

In wet and windy conditions Harborough travelled to Melton Mowbray for the semi final of the County Plate competition.

Due to nerves and weather conditions the first few minutes were scrappy by both teams trying to put pressure on the opposition.

Harborough definitely found their feet soonest with some great defensive tackling but also some great handling to move the ball along the back line from one side of the pitch and back again allowing
Moore to open the scoring.

A period of play peppered with errors due to the slippery ball occurred before Harborough crosses the line again with a try scored by Tunneycliff. As the half came to an end Harborough kept the pressure up but several opportunities escaped to further build on the score.

The half time whistle blew with the score 0-10.

Early in the second half Melton came at Harborough with greater intensity coming close to scoring. In efforts to avoid this some frantic tackling was carried out and at one point the referee felt this was too much and awarded Melton a penalty try bringing the scores 7-10.

A long period of play occurred which was influenced heavily by cold hands and the resulting knock ons. Despite the cold the players kept at it and finally Harborough were rewarded with another try scored this time by Buckby.

The final whistle blew at 7-15 which means Market Harborough move onwards to the final in April.
A great game played by all 22 players.