Away in a Cowpatch

Harborough u13s were away at Kenilworth at the weekend, playing on a field referred to locally as the Cowpatch. Home losses are about as rare as an erudite Australian in these parts, but when the Harborough boys came calling, they left with all the gifts.

The hosts have an impressive record of victories and were clearly a side to be taken seriously. Harborough knew they would have to up their game. They did.

The opening exchanges saw both sides sizing up their opposition and Harborough took a while to settle. A break from Ross Primrose was the first obvious difference between the teams, and Will Hallam finished off the move to break the deadlock. Harborough continued to push hard, with Theo Haynes making breaks on the wing. Harry Grimmett made a barnstorming run from a ball won at the line out, feeding the scoring pass to Henry Povoas, to make the score 10 – 0.

Perhaps the best move of the game came when James Melody made a break from his own 22. Finding gaps through the centre, he seemed to be on his own but executed a wonderful single handed offload to Povoas, coming through like an express train in support. Povoas scored from the subsequent scrum.

Harborough were producing rugby out of the top drawer. Kenilworth were finding it hard to make any real impression on the game as they were starved of possession. The whole team was running at pace, had good hands and rucked hard. Two more scores took the half time result to 25 – 0.

Kenilworth started the second half with renewed resolve and it took a while for Harborough to regain their flow. Warren Mills made some powerful runs and Povoas produced a score from virtually his own try line, picking up the ball and outrunning the opposition. Tom Pope converted.

Matthew Stamp enjoyed a typically determined game, and one blistering break had him delivering a platform for Cameron Jordan to score under the posts. This time Max Dalby converted.

At 39 -0 down, Kenilworth knew the game was lost and their heads dipped. Harborough, though, did not take their foot off the gas. Another break by Mills had Dalby in support and Povoas to finish the move.

Kenilworth continued to push and Harborough had to defend hard on their own line. Dalby chased a kick out from defence, picked up the ball and then sprinted, danced and dodged his way to claim a try. Pope rounded off the day with another successful kick. Final score was 51 – 0.