Southam 0-34 Harbury

After last year's success, Harbury have been looking to build ahead of the upcoming campaign with a strong pre-season. Up first for the 1st XV was the short trip up the road to our local rivals Southam, in what promised to be a competitive and testing game against a team in the league above. Under the management of Coach Josh Biggs, ably assisted by injured winger Toby Whelan, Harbury took 20 players across to Southam; with a squad featuring new signings Tom Boag and Jackson Hobson, alongside much-needed experience in the form of Tom Kittendorf, Gareth Evans, and the immortal Tony Tate.

A cagey opening saw a number of errors from both sides, as early season rustiness affected the fluency of the game. As it transpired, a mistake lead to the first score of the season as a loose pass allowed new signing Jackson to flyhack through and score his first of many tries for the club. Hooker Matt Carter added the extras to give Harbury a 7-0 lead just before the quarter interval.

Southam made wholesale changes ahead of the second quarter, whereas Harbury largely stuck with the team that started proceedings, with the ever impressive Ben Swidryk taking a rest after an industrious and combative first 20, and Tom Boag and Harry Holland swapping positions at 9 and 14.

Harbury immediately took advantage of Southam's changes to add a second try. Jackson again broke through, leaving Royal's teammate Bron Koziel for dead, putting his centre partner Tom Arnold away to dive into the corner to leave Southam scratching their heads. Carter failed to add the extras on this occasion, leaving the score at 12-0 after half an hour. Harbury added to their total soon after, as number 8 Charlie Allerton took a tap penalty from 15 metres out, carrying half the Southam defensive line with him, and crashed over close to the sticks. Carter added the extras to extend the lead to 19-0.

After three tries that won't make the highlight reel at the end of the year, Harbury scored a try from an excellently worked set-piece. After a well-worked lineout between Cummings and Dodds; Boag hit Pond who found Gaz Evans in the middle. Evans found Jackson out back who walked through the Southam defence untouched for the umpteenth time. Jacko found Harry Holland out wide, and HHH had the simplest of tasks to run in a fourth try in the first half. I've not done the try justice by any means, so make sure to check it out in the trylights later this week. Ben 'Lurch' Knott was unlucky with the conversion attempt to leave the score 24-0 at half time.

The half time message from Biggs was for the lads to pick up where they'd left off, and ensure that we continued to use the shape and play in the right areas. Clearly the message worked, as Matt Willis finished off another excellent set-piece using his strength and speed to score in the corner following a scrum move. Lurch narrowly missed with the conversion from out wide, but the powerful lock continued to show that he's useful all round the park with another lung-busting display.

Harbury didn't let up and quickly added a 6th try through Willis again. Good territory gave Rory Pond space, and the club's vice captain threw a 20 yard miss-pass to allow Willis to walk in untouched for his second of the game. Carter missed with the extras to leave the score at 34-0. Harbury were unable to further add to their total despite opportunities, but continued to create chances which is promising for the upcoming campaign. Towards the end of the game, Harbury were forced to defend their line to protect the clean sheet, and excellent tackling from Bill McFerran and Ben Swidryk amongst others kept Southam at bay, and allowed Tom Boag to turn the ball over to finish the game without conceding. Full time: 34-0 to Harbury.

Special mention has to go to Danny Coyne, Gary Bevan, Bill McFerran and Will Pursey who filled in without question or issue; and Jackson Hobson and Tom Boag who performed excellently on debut. Man of the Match could have gone to a number of worthy candidates, but Harry Holland earned the accolade for an excellent performance in a number of positions. DOTD went to debutant Boag for being generally very aggy, but VC Pond was lucky to escape without the moniker himself as he turned up 45 minutes late for his first game as captain. One thing that can't be underestimated is the pure commitment from the whole side. Harbury finished the game with Holland, Hobson, and Kittendorf in the back row - and still kept a clean sheet.

Genuinely a very exciting performance and we can't wait for the season to start in earnest. Some of the Southam fans couldn't believe the steps that Harbury had made, and I will admit that we were very impressive. If you consider the talent that we had missing on Saturday, both 1s and 2s should look forward to an exciting season ahead. With Symes, Foster, Winchester, Morgan, J Wood, C Wood, Whelan, Buckley, Owen, and Gladden all stood on the touchline, and others like R Alford, S Alford, H Smith, Milburn, S Smith, Hunt and Higgins all unavailable for one reason or another, the strength in depth is outstanding. Next week we've another tough fixture as Woodrush come to Waterloo Fields on Saturday and training this week will be vital.

Thanks as ever for the support. What a club. What a team.

Up the Harbs - Glad to be back.
Toby Whelan