Three Steps to Devon

A number of brave, foolhardy, committed fathers and coaches took their charges to take part in a marvellous festival at Barnstaple Rugby Club. The host Club ran a very well organised tournament with quality facilities.

After conserving their energy on the coach trip down and plenty of sleep on the first night, the boys let rip with a first pool match win over Esher, putting their opposition away with a 20 – 0 victory in windy conditions under an overcast sky and some debut tourists and players in new positions working well.

Playing next against the home side, Harborough began to find some real rhythm. Using the wind to his full advantage, Tom Pope kicked for field position, with one memorable punt gathered by Keiran Silcott who offloaded to Henry ‘Big Dog’ Povoas, driving forward and popping the ball to Pope to finish the move he started. More tries followed, including a stormer down the wing from Captain Will Hallam, and the final score was 20 – 0.

Next up were Kenfig Hill, all the way from South Wales. They play to different rules in that neck of the woods, including ‘no pushing’ in the scrums, so we were quickly moved to uncontested. Never mind, the boys still played them off the park with a 15 – 0 win. What a first day! Three games, three wins – no tries conceded! That deserved a fish ‘n’ chip supper in the sunshine at Westward Ho!

The final pool match was played on Sunday morning, up against local-ish rivals from Sutton Coldfield. They were a quality outfit and ‘jet-lag’ (or something similar) made the Harborough lads a bit sluggish to start with. They conceded their first try of the tournament and found themselves 0 – 5 down at half time. This was unfamiliar territory. Harborough blasted into the second half with two tries in quick succession, and adding a third for what looked like win. At 15 – 5 down, Sutton Coldfield refused to accept defeat and pulled a score back to finish at 15 – 10.

Harborough moved to the semi-final for a re-match against Kenfig Hill. Another 15 – 0 win, this time with Will Nijjer making the scoresheet to celebrate his tour debut for the Club.

A tight victory for Sutton Coldfield in the second semi-final meant Haborough were matched with them again for the final. By now, the boys’ brand of running rugby, excellent handling skills and forward power had locals and other tourists cheering them on. A great bunch of lads from Painswick RFC u15s (the original ‘Cherry and Whites’ from Gloucestershire) gave ‘Big Dog’ Povoas a nickname that might just stick, cheering Harborough on from the grandstand.

Sutton Coldfield weren’t going to be easily dominated and Harborough had to work hard for the first score and defend valiantly to stop the opposition. Some wonderful passages of play saw Harborough 15 – 0 up at half time. Sutton Coldfield did pull one back in the second half but their final clearance kick under pressure had the ball landing in ‘Tractor’ (more shouts from the stands!) Dalby’s welcoming grasp, who powered over to make the final score 20 – 5.

The victorious side trundled up to the friendly and welcoming (yes, even with 22 boys!) Castle Inn at Landkey (http://www.thecastleinnlandkey.co.uk/index.html) for a barbecue and Vimto in the sunshine to round off a memorable weekend. The boys learned a lot, we hope, about playing the game well, camaraderie in the team and respect for the opposition – some important life lessons to be taken away, and some great memories to treasure.