The Right Stuff

The early minutes were messy with both sides finding their feet. The scrums were solid and this looked like Harborough were going to have to shake off their lethargy to deliver a victory. But with a number of players missing or out of position, they kept their composure and won a ball against the head for Henry Povoas to pick and drive for the line. Will Hallam converted.

Povoas rattled in his hat trick before half time, one following a searing break by Hallam and another found him popping up on the wing. Despite being 17 – 0 down, Ashby rallied well and a big kick from their full back had Harborough scrambling backwards. Keiran Silcott recovered well and the ball found its way out to Will Nijjer, who thundered down the field to score under the posts. Ed Duggan drove over the line from short distance to make it five tries before half time. With Hallam converting those two, Harborough reached the break at 31 – 0 up.

All of Harborough’s replacements came on for the second half and there were some further positional switches to try out new combinations. Ashby were still full of endeavour and this resulted in a tighter game. Mathew Stamp, switched to Fly Half, had the presence of mind to take a quick tap penalty from 5 metres out, popping the ball to Hallam to drive over the line.

Ashby were still putting in the effort though and used their full back’s boot combined with a flying winger to put pressure on Harborough’s last man. Mark Stribling was up to the challenge, was secure under the high ball and kicked well out of defence.

Ashby finally got just reward for their efforts with the next score. A series of rucks ended with their Number 7 finding a gap to touchdown for a try, converted by the full back.

Harborough had the final say, with James Melody adding a try to his day and Hallam converting to make the result 43 – 7.