A bright future for Harborough as 3 Colts join the second team to secure an excellent away victory at Kettering

Despite there being no 1st team fixture a large number of players made themselves unavailable and Harborough seconds were pleased to welcome 3 Colts into their squad for their game at Kettering. Even so with late drop-outs they had only 14 players but Kettering leant them a winger to even up the sides.

From the start it was clear that the Harborough pack were the stronger driving Kettering back in the scrums and easily securing teir own line outs. This gave them a platform that was exploited by Charlie Beard, one of the Colts playing at scrum half. There were also excellent debuts for the other 2 Colts, Joe Price and Cameron Boa who tackled relentlessly throughout. The Harborough backs looked in fine form with Lewis Townsend once again playing out of position at fly half calling the shots. They should have taken an early lead but for a foot in touch and at times over complicating their attacks. The inevitable score came after 15 minutes when Joel Nance, returning from injury powered through from half way, he was held up just short but Townsend was on hand to pick up and touch down for a try converted by Henry Davis. On 20 minutes the lead became 14-0 as our “on loan” winger, Kieran Wilson, made good yards down the wing before the ball was passed inside where Jack Digby went on one of his trademark runs before off-loading to Ethan Godefroy who touched down with Davis once again converting.

Kettering then got a try of their own when they collected a kick out of defence and their backs showed that they had dangerous pace. The conversion was missed but a half time lead of 14-5 looked comfortable and probably would have been if the scrums had not become uncontested after Kettering lost a front row forward. This negated Harborough’s forward dominance but at first seemed to make little difference as Caolaan Fitzpatrick, playing his final game for the club before emigrating, showed how much he will be missed. First he turned over ball that eventually was fed to Wilson whose strong running put him over in the corner, then he broke numerous tackles down the line and for once did not put a foot in touch before passing to the ever present Godefroy who touched down for a try converted once again by Davis for a 26-5 lead on 52 minutes.

Harborough then relaxed far too much and with the Kettering backs demonstrating their ability they ran in 4 unconverted tries within 15 minutes to take an unlikely 27-26 lead. It could have been more but for a couple of try saving tackles by Ollie Marriot. This appeared to galvanise Harborough who upped their game as they retook the lead a couple of minutes later with a second try for Townsend converted by Davis. They extended their lead to 38-27 on 70 minutes when after another storming run by Lee Butler was stopped short. Kettering kicked the ball upfield but it was collected by Marriot who offloaded to man of the match Godefroy, who was tackled just short but Marcus John-Charles was on hand to touch down.

Not to be outdone Kettering struck back on 77 minutes with a converted try of their own to reduce the lead to 34-38. But Harborough were in no mood to throw away the opportunity for a win and made certain that they retained the ball and move upfield. Then following a powerful run by George Lee he passed the ball to Beard who touched down in the corner for a well deserved try from the final play to give Harborough a well deserved 43-34 victory