5 try Harrow get league campaign off to a flying start

Sunday saw the visit of Letchworth to Grove Field for the U17s first league encounter of 2016/17.
In what has been a hotly contested fixture in previous seasons, Sunday was to prove no exception with neither side taking a backward step with some excellent rugby played by both sides.
Harrow started the fastest, with some slick handling and movement down the left hand side of the pitch seeing Andrew Powell go in at the corner, and with Callum Manning again bringing his kicking boots Harrow were 7-0 up with only 5 minutes on the clock.
From the kick off Harrow again worked the ball through the backs with Olly Stern and Oliver Rice in the centres proving the perfect combination of clubbing power and dexterity creating holes in the Letchworth backline and with Rory Kavanagh and David Hoxh swarming through the rucks harrow were again free down the left hand side, and this time it was the power and strength of Olly Stern who crashed through for another try , which was again converted by Callum and Harrow were 14-0 ahead.
A further 3 points from the boot of Callum due to some persistent infringements by the Letchworth pack saw Harrow increase their lead to 17-0.
With 5 minutes of the half remaining, Harrow again were on the front foot, and following some sustained pressure in the scrum, which to be fair Harrow dominated all morning, a loose ball squirmed out the back of the Letchworh pack and Henry Jesson swooped like an eagle to gather the ball and crash over for another 5 points - 22-0 to Harrow, and Harrow superiority in scrums and lineouts and around the breakdown had brought excellent returns.
Letchworth did manage a score of their own just before half-time and Harrow turned around 22-5 ahead.
With a number of enforced changes due to injury which saw Ben Sugarman have to come off at 9, Aaron Walsh due to a knock to the head and David Hoxh with a hand injury , Harrow had to rejig both forward pack and back line, and not surprisingly the second half saw Letchworth come back into the encounter, Harrows defence stood firm however, and with Dan Mcevoy marshalling the troops from 9 they repelled all attacks, and began to exert pressure again on the Letchworth 22.
Harrows next try came from a move straight off the training paddock with a 9,10, 12 loop creating the space for Callum Manning to ghost through and touch down under the posts, converting his own try Harrow were now 29-5 ahead.
A couple of unsavoury incidents saw Harrow lose a little bit of focus , and Letchworth took advantage to score and convert to bring the score back to 29-12. Harrow responded yet again, and with some excellent back play seeing Jacob Thomas join the line and create the overlap for Harry Logan to open his legs and show his class, touching down under the posts for another converted try and Harriow extended their advantage back to 24 points 36-12.
Back came Letchworth, and they scored again with the last play of the game, which when converted saw the final score 36-19 in Harrows favour.
An excellent all round performance, strong and dominant in the line-outs and scrums, competitive at the breakdown, although still some work to be done. Backs functioned very well, and executed some well planned moves despite having to reshuffle a number of times due to injury changes.
5 points and the league season well and truly underway.
Huge thanks again to all the supporters who hopefully enjoyed the win, and to all who helped out in the kitchen and clearing up afterwards.
A couple of training Sundays over the next two weeks, so an opportunity to work on some more improvements before another league fixture away at Tabard on 6th Nov.