Harborne catch the Hare

A beautiful crisp clear day was in stark contrast to the previous weekends conditions. This made for perfect conditions for our team to continue its rising confidence.

Another big crowd of supporters gathered and many missed the first score of the game on 22seconds. They needn't have worried as Harborne served up a further 90 points in the remaining 75 minutes or so.

The game was over as a contest within the first quarter as we had already succeeded in securing the bonus point for four tries. Greyhound were a somewhat different team to the one we played away but nevertheless our approach was clinical and ruthless in equal measure.

Our forwards destroyed the opposition scrum at will and the away side barely had clean ball at all for the entire game. Whilst they lacked any great cutting edge this was also emphasised by our solidity in defence. Their desire to seal their own ball off simply allowing us to defend more easily, and they barely threatened our 22 let alone our try line. It is testament to the defence of our team that Greyhound were reduced to attempting a three point penalty kick from 40yards out whilst 70 points down to try to avoid a nil score line; to no avail as it went wide and with it their only scoring chance.

The foundation of any good victory is usually the forwards... This was no different. With scrums almost running forward our backs enjoyed front foot ball and used it to lethal effect. Breaking both gain and tackle lines at speed with almost every pass accurate and direct, tries were created from all angles and distances.

With a 52-0 advantage at the break and a full bench of subs changed it would have been easy for us to take our foot off the throttle. Despite a rally from the visitors we had soon stollen ball and open the scoring again.

With the backs running tries in almost at will, the forwards continued their role unselfishly till the opportunity to exert their own influence on the scoreboard saw them go for their second rolling maul from distance, only for Robbie to fail to realise he was deep inside the dead ball area, earning him the washing up duties. The pack capped off their own rendition of Miley Cyrus'wrecking ball as they gave our crowd that rarest of delights, a five metre scrum drive over try.

Meanwhile the backs continued to link for score after score. The final whistle came all too early, as the team were hunting for that final score to take us over the ton, but the ref had other ideas.

A great day, and yet more great support. Yet again the kitchen team excelled themselves with the food and we're ably assisted in the clean up by the dods. For those of us involved in the clubs development over the recent seasons it was a pleasure to see the clubhouse packed with members of all three teams, supporters and volunteers alike. The buzz continues to grow along with the scorelines. With Clee Hill losing at Warley and Cannock only managing a draw at Bishops Castle this leaves us 11 points clear of the field and our target must be to put the league out of sight before the tough final few games come round!

As ever, our worst enemy will be complacency and whilst such victory is to be enjoyed we as a club need to press on as competition continue us to grow for all places.

Mention must also go to the twos for their 59-0 win and the threes who turned around a heavy loss to Willenhall before Christmas to narrowly lose 17-19 with the crossbar denying them 2points at the death, a superb swing in scoreline. Let's look ahead to the possibility of four teams this weekend!