Four In A Row For Harbury

Following on from last week’s 55 – 7 thumping of Alcester, Harbury visited Old Laurentians looking to build momentum with the men in red and white gleefully taking to the field on a day when autumn signalled its return from a summer break with grey skies and never ending drizzle.

New and old faces continue to resurface and it was the lesser spotted Jamie Newport who provided the first memorable moment of the game when he found out he may have lost a yard of pace when chasing an interception but only managing to find hard contact when the ball was safely caught by the time he got there. To the relief of Harbury after a lie down following his 5 metre sprint he was ready to return.

The early exchanges of the match were mostly played in the middle of the park with the greasy ball making handling hard work. Thankfully when you have Dave & Roger Heydon in your front row it doesn’t seem to matter if you drop the ball as Harbury dominated the scrum again thanks as well to skipper Exton and returning veteran Richard Sandford along with the rest of the pack.

The first score eventually came from a scrum when a good set piece move from the half way line saw Ricky Alford break through and run clear before popping the ball inside to Brother Steve who ran in clean through under the posts. Harbury then became increasingly dominant. On the few occasions OL’s did run the ball back Milburn was on hand to make one of an immense number of tackles and when the ball was kicked clear it was taken securely by a back three of Lurch, Newport and “Toms Mate” as well as Rooney in the 2nd half. Pressure began to tell on OL’s and when a clever kick was made by Fisher into the corner they were unable to clear and after working through the phases Fisher got his reward by crossing on the opposite flank. A third score quickly followed when Steve Alford broke the line but not wanting to risk a “Stevie A pass” decided to ignore support and barge through himself.

From the resulting kick off skipper Exton broke the habit of a lifetime and decided to have a run when he found himself with the ball. Sadly two steps later that was over as was his game with an unforgiving calf muscle not fancying anymore. Obviously this left the fans reeling with life time supporter Harry Coward looking dumbstruck.

Thankfully with Harbury young guns Harry Griffin and Rory Pickin having decent games and winning the breakdown plus recent Harbury addition Andy again putting in a decent shift the forwards continued to dominate and a final score before half time from Ricky Alford; who was set up by Milburn who picked up from the back of the scrum left the half time score at 24 – 0.

The second half continued as the first half ended. Rain continued to fall and while OL’s were unable to deal with the greasy ball Harbury were in control and continued to work it around the park. There was a moment of panic when the “nill” was at risk following some ambitious play from the returning Bennett who sliced a kick which fell into OL’s hands. It was a race to the line but Rooney combined with the great wall of Newport to tackle and steal the ball and see away any danger. Never again was the Harbury line at risk, mostly thanks to the white booted OL’s six who was doing his best to entertain the crowd with some comical Rugby for the ages. Harbury added two more scores in the second half with Ricky Alford setting up Rooney before Bennett clipped the ball through an onrushing OL’s defence for Steve Alford to secure his hat trick, in the same week he pulled on the shirt for the English fire service.

Final Score: Old Laurentians 0 – Harbury 36

Another fine game for Harbury 2’s who ensured that HRFC have now played 4 games this season and secured 4 wins. Next week see’s Harbury 1’s take on Kings Norton away in league action while Harbury 2’s will be continuing their cup journey at home. Training 7pm Tuesday & Thursday – If you fancy a game get in touch!

Try Scorers:
Steve Alford x3
Ricky Alford x1
Tom Fisher x1
Dave Rooney x1