2 Fast 2 Furious

Harborough and their visitors were both looking forward to a good game, and nobody was disappointed. Passion and commitment were high and Biggleswade had most of the early possession. The pendulum swung and Harborough spent time camped in their opponents’ half. Neither side was giving any quarter and although Harborough enjoyed the possession, they coughed up the ball too often at the breakdown and Biggleswade cleared their lines.

The half ended with no score, but that doesn’t tell the story of a fiercely contested game played by two sides at the top of their games. An engrossing period of rugby.

Harborough kept the pressure on in the second half, with Ross Primrose managing to squeeze through some gaps not obvious to all. A sublime piece of play saw Primrose kick and chase, take the luck of the bounce to gather and offload to Will Hallam in the tackle. The rucking improved and Harborough began to gain a bit of momentum.

A series of rucks with quick ball from Mathew Stamp had the ball through the hands and Henry Povoas muscled over to break the deadlock. Hallam hit the conversion to take the score to 7 – 0, but this was no time to relax.

The sides were well matched at the scrum and breakdown, with Biggleswade having the edge in the maul. The forwards all had to work hard. There was no opportunity to take the foot off the pedal and the constant pressure finally resulted in another gap and Povoas barrelled over to secure the second try. Hallam again converted.

Harborough should be pleased with the defensive effort needed to shut out a side of this quality. A high intensity game, played in a great spirit. Now, breathe…