Wellingboroough 2nd XV  20 - 28 Market Harborough 1st XV

Market Harborough signalled their intention with an early unconverted try but Wellingborough settled down to put pressure on them and were rewarded with a penalty on the 22.  Mark Carter duly converted it.  Harborough nearly broke through on a number of occasions with their big centre proving difficult to stop but Boro’s tackling was holding firm.  After 25 minutes John Schoeman burst through a seemingly impossible gap and sprinted 50 metres before being stopped.  From the ensuing phases of play John Schoeman was again on hand to finish the move off and score under the posts, Mark Carter converting.

Wellingborough were looking to score again launching several attacks but suffering from turnovers when the play broke down.  It was from one of these in their opponents half that Harborough counter attacked and the full back stepped inside the defence and out-sprinted the cover defence from 40 metres out to score in the corner.

Wellingborough again worked their way down into the Harborough half and were awarded a penalty.  This was missed but a poor Harborough drop-out resulted in a scrum on the 22.  A No 8 pick up and feed to Mark Carter who dropped a goal made the score 13-10 to Wellingborough at half time.

In the stillness of half time the team talk from the Market Harborough captain could be heard all too clearly on the touchline.  The choice of Anglo-Saxon language obviously had the desired effect as they were soon on the scoreboard again after several phases of play and a ‘wide ball’ put them over for another converted try.  They were back again soon afterwards to out scrummage Wellingborough for a pushover try and once again to kick a penalty from the 22.  They had turned the score around to 25-13.

In this spell of 20-25 minutes Wellingborough looked a different side without the commitment and determination they had in the first half.  They had also made a few replacements and looked to have lost their shape.  However they pulled themselves together and pressurised the Harborough line with the help of a number of penalties.  From one of the resulting phases of play John Schoeman again found an unlikely gap and fought his way over for a converted try. 

With 5 minutes left, hope was high that they could come back and do it again but a dropped ball in the middle of a promising move saw Harborough take advantage and sweep downfield.  From the inevitable penalty that Wellingborough gave away trying to stop the flood the Harborough full back stepped up to kick the 3 points and take them out of sight.  The slumped shoulders of the Wellingborough players told the story of the final score of 28-20 to Market Harborough.

Man of the match: John Schoeman