Harbury 36-12 Tewkesbury

Harbury welcomed Tewkesbury to Waterloo Fields for the RO16 tie in the Papa Johns Trophy, having seen off Northampton BBOBs last week. To our knowledge we've never played each other at a senior level, but Dave Andrews thankfully let us know that 'last time we played them was when I [sic] took an U12's side (inc Matt Knight) to play in a tournament. Their supporters called us a small village side (in a derogatory manner) like we'd be no trouble to beat. We thrashed them!!' Always useful to get these little titbits, and Tewkesbury brought a vociferous support with them on the bus this weekend.

Rory Pond, Tom Arnold and Charlie Allerton returned to the starting XV as the Villagers named a very strong side as we look to go deep in the competition, and early on we had to deal with a heavy Tewkesbury pack who looked to use their ball carriers to pound our defensive line. Boag, Whelan and Holland all put their bodies on the line to varying effect against their big 8, whilst Arnold, Hobson, and Pond made big shots from set pieces to keep the Tewkesbury backline at bay early on.

It was Harbury who opened the scoring within the first 10 minutes however, as after a quick tap penalty from Tom Boag, both Ant Tate and Tom Kittendorf went close to opening their accounts for the season, and as Charlie Allerton picked and went from the base he was halted short and found Rory Pond outside him with a perfect offload for the 10 to dot down untouched. Ricky Alford missed narrowly with the conversion to leave the score at 5-0.

Harbury ill-discipline and uncharacteristic mistakes put us under the cosh for the next 20 minutes or so, giving Tewkesbury good territory and a number of point scoring opportunities. First they missed a penalty from bang in front, but the impressive opposition 13 made up for his failed shot at goal as he stepped through the defence well, finishing past Ricky to score under the sticks. He converted himself to take the lead at 5-7. Harbury didn't learn from their mistakes, and having lost Luke Winchester to a head injury, caused by a late and low dip that went unpunished, Tewkesbury had the chance to extend their lead, but again missed a shot at goal from a position where they really should have done better. Harbury continued to defend well however, with Jackson Hobson stopping a certain try with a covering tackle into touch, whilst Tom Arnold and Rory Pond fronted up to stop their 8 from crashing over from the base of a scrum.

Perhaps this stint under the cosh was the wake-up call that Harbury needed to get going properly, and with Joe Aston providing some excellent go-forward off the bench, the villagers got some much needed territory. A weak clearance kick was returned back into the Tewkesbury 22, and as Tom Boag spotted a half gap, Tom Doddsy Allen steamed onto a pass making vital metres. As Dodds offloaded to Ciarán, who'd replaced the injured Ricky Alford, the fullback was hauled down illegally. As Harbury recycled under a penalty advantage, Rory kicked crossfield for Jackson Hobson to gather and score in the corner. After consultation with his linesmen, the referee awarded a penalty try for the initial infringement against Ciarán, putting Harbury into a 12-7 lead at half time.

The lads knew that we hadn't performed to our capabilities in large parts of the first half, but quickly got into the grove in the second to take the game away from our Gloucestershire opposition. As Tom Arnold powered through their defence on a number of occasions, a Harbury attacking scrum gave him the opportunity to do so again from close range. As he was stopped just short, the ball was secured and Rory Pond threw a sumptuous pass to cut out the Tewkesbury defence, allowing Whelan to walk-in untouched. Jason Wood added the extras from a difficult angle to put us into a 19-7 lead.

Scarcely 5 minutes later the Villagers were at it again, with Harry Holland making good metres on a tips line through the middle. With the ball shifted wide, Allerton offloaded to Jase, and with 5 men around him and only Whelan outside him, the Cat opted to deal with the defence himself, first bumping the 15 into the shadow realm, before carrying the rest of the defenders on his back over the try line. He definitely maybe dropped it, but some good karma for Joe Cummings having a perfectly good try disallowed last weekend. Jase missed narrowly with the conversion to leave the score at 24-7.

At this stage the Gloucestershire side were still in the game, but from the kick off Jackson Hobson and Ciarán O'Connor made sure of the result. Jackson caught and stepped his way through the whole Tewkesbury defence, before offloading to O'Connor for the fullback to do the rest, running in under the sticks. Jase added the extras for 31-7 with Harbury now sitting comfortably. Harbury used their bench well in the second half, resting a number of tired bodies and introducing the likes of Danny Woodward, Ben Lurch Knott, Steve Alford and Joe Cummings, who was being saved for his County game on Sunday. Meanwhile Rory Pond was withdrawn after 60 so he could get down to Buckinghamshire for a 95th birthday party! Good thing he turned it on in the first 20 of the second so he could afford to leave.

Harbury had the opportunity to add to the score during the next 20 minutes or so, but butchered a number of good chances. Despite being one of the MotM candidates for another standout performance that had the opposition questioning whether he was a ringer... Jackson secured DotD with one of these chances. Once he took a short pass off Cummings to break through the defence, and with the try line in front of him he tried to cut in and beat the last defender, only to get scragged and not score. Joe Aston apparently dropped the ball over the line after but he's pretty sure he scored.

In the end it didn't actually matter - a Tewkesbury scrum close to their own line got absolutely decimated by the front row of Danny Woodward, Jase Wood, and Ant Tate, and as Boag found Whelan from the turnover the winger went close to his second. As the ball was recycled, Jase Wood ran through the angriest man alive on the other team to bag his second. Jase was too tired to take the conversion, and Tom Arnold missed narrowly.

Tewkesbury were by this point short on players having lost a number to injury, but the lads who turned up were generally a decent bunch (apart from Gloucestershire's answer to the Karate Kid who pushed me into a ditch and then judo flipped me???) and played some very nice stuff, and it would've been interesting to see how they'd have got on with a full squad. Despite the result being a foregone conclusion by this point, Tewkesbury did actually hit back with a try from a lineout after their number 8 carried into midfield, powering his way over. The conversion was missed to leave the score at 36-12. There was time before the end of the game for Lurch to grab a yellow card for an undetermined offence, and Jamie and Ricky Bearman to rile up an exceptionally angry strawberry blonde, mulleted man, but the score remained at 36-12.

A well deserved victory and good to win a tough game when we were under the cosh for long stretches. MotM in the end went to Tom Arnold for a fantastic carrying display in the second half, whilst Jackson wasn't overhauled as DotD and if anything added to it with an interesting crossfield kick effort. The news in the changing room was that Trentham had dispatched with St Andrews, and so we know now that we'll be going to Stoke for the quarter final. Trentham look a very decent side and having to travel to their place will be tough. Ricky is again organising a bus so if you're interested in travelling over with us let him know asap!

Up the Harbs,
Cobra Kai