Harbury 57-0 Kenilworth 2s

After a disappointing end to 2023 with a loss at Stoke Old Boys, Harbury were looking to get back to winning ways in the first game of 2024 at home to Kenilworth 2s. Our previous 2 games against Kens had been competitive fixtures, and with the away side naming a full 20 with some recognised talent we were well aware of the threat they posed. Harbury had to do without a number of key players towards the back end of 2023, with Allerton, Pond and Gaz Evans all missing a number of games. All 3 returned to the squad for the visit of Kenilworth, alongside both Alford brothers, Tom Arnold, and Matt Homan. With 4 of those players named on the bench alongside the Buccaneer Josh Buckley, safe to say we had a certified Bomb Squad.

Harbury started slowly, which was almost entirely Coach Linnett's fault as he'd confused his timings for the warm up, and only a last ditch tackle stopped Kenilworth from opening the scoring early. We reacted to this slow start and got our defensive systems in shape, winning a turnover and working back up the pitch. With good field position, Milburn spotted a gap in the Kenilworth defence and darted through, half scragged he offloaded to the returning Evans, who drew and passed to Holland to open the scoring in 2024 under the sticks. Ricky converted the try for 7-0.

Harbury's pack had had a tough time of it away at Stoke, but the forwards sought to reassert themselves and won a number of scrum penalties early on in the first half. One of these penalties gave the forwards the opportunity to show off their other set piece. Jeff couldn't hit a single lineout in the warm up, but the Luke Littler montage he watched before we went out for kickoff really sorted him out, and his arrows were straight and true. From the resulting driving maul the pack made 20 metres before letting the backs use the ball. A well orchestrated backs move saw Ciaran find Ricky out back, and Ricky had the simplest of tasks to draw and pass to Whelan in space for the winger to score a typical walk in. 12-0.

Ciaran quickly went from provider to scorer, as Mr Utility threw an outlandish dummy and skirted through untouched to score his fourth in Harbury colours. Chris Ashton doesn't have anything to worry about when the prizes for best swallow dive are dished out though... Ricky added the extras for 19-0. Harbury added a fourth on the cusp of half time, as a lineout move saw Winchester go on an adventure into midfield. The galavanting eight charged through the Kenilworth defence, and combined well with Woodhams and Steve Alford, and the centre was unfortunate not to add to his tally as he was hauled down metres out. Whelan deputised at 9 and found Higgins outwide, who bounced his opposite man and dived over in the corner. Great team move. 24-0 at half time.

Poor conditions before Christmas compounded Harbury's profligacy, but favourable conditions suited our style of play, and from the start of the second half we started to flaunt our skills. Loose head prop Jase 'The Cat' Wood carried into contact and sucked in 3 players, and right underneath the Veo Jase flicked an offload out the back to Higgins and the winger carried well before offloading to Holland who ran in untouched from half way to add his second of the game. 31-0. This meant the introduction of all 5 subs, as the bomb squad came on to see the game out.

Not long after it was Whelan's turn to add his second with a typical winger's score. Pond went close with a drive taking him two metres out, one metre too far for Allerton who was chopped down within minutes of coming on, and Whelan picked and went with the aid of Josh Buckley to score the try to take him one ahead of the onlooking Hobson in the tryscorers charts. 36-0. Whelan added his hattrick minutes later as from a Pond offload, he ignored the unmarked Higgins and Alford outside him to step inside the covering defence and score Harbury's 7th of the game. Linnett immediately hooked the winger to his own displeasure but the rest of the team's delight. 43-0.

Steve Alford was denied in the first half, but he wouldn't be stopped in the second. A perfectly timed offload from Buckley saw the replacement prop / flanker get absolutely melted, but put Alford away through and the centre did the rest, stepping through and accelerating to score under the sticks from distance. 50-0.

The last try of the day went to Josh Buckley who scored with the last touch of the game. With Pond having been denied a try on his return by the referee after Arnold completed a Messi-esque dribble, the resulting lineout for Kenilworth was overthrown and the defence opened in front of Buckley to score his first ever senior try. Well deserved for Mr Warburtons. Final score 57-0. The scoreline is harsh on a young Kenilworth side who kept going throughout, and Harbury had to play well to keep them to nil.

Motm was shared by Winchester and Wood, who carried like demons throughout, and Coach Linnett earned DotD for his timing disasterclass. 10 lads received nominations for MotM which indicates how many strong performances there were. Great to see so many supporters down at Waterloo Fields for the first game of 2024, including a number of Colts who came down to enjoy the seniors put on a strong performance. The First XV are away at Tamworth next weekend whilst the Bees will be looking to get revenge over Stratford 2s in the opening game of the Champions League.

Up the Harbs,
Walk-in-Whelan