Colts get a sobering lesson
Market Harborough capitalise
Leighton Buzzard Colts 14
Market Harborough Colts 31
Buzzards took on Market Harborough in their final friendly fixture, prior to next week's first round of the Colts National Cup, against local rivals Stockwood Park which will be followed by the start of the East Midlands Colts leagues.
On the basis of this performance, the Buzzards are in for a long tough season unless they rekindle the flame that has previously burned so brightly.
They were comprehensively outplayed by a side that were not at all impressed with what this Buzzard team may or may or have achieved previously.
Harborough had arrived focused and committed to the cause and were in no mood to concede an inch.
The writing was on the wall from the first minute, when Buzzard gave away the first of a series of unnecessary penalties.
A long kick to touch, deep into the Buzzard 22, saw Harborough collect the line out ball and probe the fringes. Buzzards failed to defend and the opposition were off to a dream start, with an unconverted try wide out on the right.
The game was a very scrappy affair from start to finish, with an endless series of penalties, free kicks, scrums and lineouts.
Harborough took every opportunity to throw themselves whole heatedly into every contact situation, both in attack and defence.
Buzzards looked threatening with ball in hand, and they made huge amounts of ground in midfield, but some selfish running, poor decision-making and even poorer execution, saw try scoring opportunity, after try scoring opportunity spurned.
This clearly buoyed the Harborough defence as Buzzards continued to struggle to execute their game plan.
The Buzzard lineout struggled from start to finish and the scrum, normally an area of dominance for the Buzzard pack, creaked throughout.
As the half entered the last five minutes, Buzzards were awarded a scrum five metres from their own line.
The scrum was lost, and the Harborough No8 picked up and literally strolled over the line for a soft score, watched by a mass of Buzzard players, and a simple conversion made the score 12-0.
With the half in its final throes, new centre Whitehouse entered the fray and immediately provided a much needed boost. He ran some outstanding lines and gave the back line the focus it had been sorely lacking.
His half break into the Harborough 22 and crisp offload from the tackle saw winger Keating touch down with literally his first pass of the day.
A well-struck Evans conversion made the half time score 12-7 to Harborough.
The second half saw flanker Byard join the fray and he was characteristically right into the thick of the action, tearing into Harborough at every opportunity.
The fractious nature of the game saw neither side able to string any phases of play together, and the procession of scrums, line outs and penalties continued.
With Harborough dominating the scrums, line outs and contact situations, the lacklustre Buzzard forwards had no answers to the simplest questions.
Buzzards then lost their own line out yet again, only 10 metres from their own line. As Harborough attacked Whitehouse put in a massive tackle in midfield, but had no defensive support from the rest of the back line and Harborough touched down and converted again, stretching the lead to 19-7.
This seemed to at last spur Buzzards into action, as they had their best phase of the match. Some quick ball from open play and good support saw Adams score under the post, the conversion supplied by Whitehouse.
Unfortunately Adams twisted his ankle in the act of scoring and had to leave the field of play with the deficit reduced to 19-14.
With the advantage of the slope and plenty of time on the clock, the Buzzards supporters awaited the much anticipated onslaught on the opposition line. Harborough clearly had other ideas and upped the ante immediately. They were clearly hungrier and more committed than the Buzzards, as they continued to frustrate the home side at every opportunity.
Buzzards made a great break from inside their own 22, only for a last gasp, try saving tackle to be put in by the last defender on the half way line.
Harborough were somewhat fortunate to be allowed to play on, following a far from straight line out, and cut through the Buzzards defence with disconcerting ease, to score wide out from 50 metres.
This brought the score to 24-14 but Buzzards still had plenty of time on their side to salvage the match.
Sadly, with only one or two exceptions, they no longer appeared to have the appetite to do so.
Prop Barker was inexplicably sin binned for trying to appropriately extricate himself from a player holding him illegally, off the ball.
Harborough closed out proceedings with a well deserved final score of the match, following yet another dysfunctional Buzzard line out 10 metres from their own line.
A solid looking Harborough side had run out well deserved winners of this scrappy affair.
Their hard working team and complete disregard for their much vaunted opponents had given the Buzzards a simple lesson in basic rugby and showed that reputation counts for very little in this game.
Thanks go to Calum Holmes who played at prop for Harborough, as they were short in this specialist position.
Buzzards clearly have lots to do this week in preparation for their big cup derby, having had the biggest of wake up calls going.
All expectation is that the Buzzards will be back, big time next week, so watch this space!
> Congratulations to Colts players Mark Lingard who scored on his 1st XV debut, and Matt Reeder who grabbed two tries and Waleed Khalik who recorded three tries, both for the 2nd XV.
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Weather for Leighton Buzzard
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
