Old Leamingtonians RFC Match Reports Saturday 20^th February 2010

Old Leamingtonians RFC 1^st XV  v  Harbury RFC 1^st XV (League)

Venue  The Crofts - Bericote Road

Date    Saturday 20^th February 2010

Result  Old Leamingtonians RFC 1^st XV    20  - 13   Harbury RFC 1^st XV

Old Leamingtonians came out on top of the local derby game despite surrendering much line- out ball and set pieces in the a first half that saw Harbury score two unconverted tries in ther first 15 minutes.  Both were scored by the Harbury wingers following passages of poor defensive play from the OL's. Conceding early give away tries is becoming a habit that OL's are having to recover from.  Two first half penalties from Adam Canning, both from distance, was all OL's had to show from a mediocre first half performance.
  

  

The half time score of 6 - 10 hardly reflected the Harbury efforts during the first half.

The second half was completely different with OL's dominating throughout.  The forwards began to exert greater control of the set and loose periods of play allowing ball to be sent out to the three-quarters. Harbury were being pulled around the field and the longer the game went the more control OL's took of matters.
   
That said, Harbury went further ahead with a penalty early in the second half following an infringement inside the OL's 22 meter area in front of the posts. Eventually the pressure on the Harbury defences paid off when a flowing three-quarters move ended with a tap-on pass from centre Dave Canning allowed winger Dealtry to run in and score in the corner. Adam Canning kicked a fine conversion from the touchline. Harbury were now restricted to defence in the main and with five minutes to go with the score level, another good ball won from a period of strong forward play saw the ball moved along the three-quarters to David Canning who made a break to score the winning try, converted by Adam Canning.

This was a local derby played in good spirit throughout and on the day OL's came out on top but clearly more points could come from quicker ball being fed to the speedy backs to provide them with space and time to utilise the potential they clearly have.