HARBORNE 1ST XV vs STAFFORD 1ST XV. 6TH JANUARY 2018. LEAGUE MATCH.

Harborne 10 – 17 Stafford

Stafford travelled deep into the Birmingham heartland for the opening fixture of 2018 against Harborne. The weather had made Westhill Close an unforgiving venue for an afternoon of flowing rugby.

A scrappy opening quarter saw both teams struggling to cope with a greasy ball that refused to allow either XV to build a series of constructive phases. An injury to Oli Greatholder briefly disrupted Stafford but a returning Callum Jones slotted into the number eight position. The visitors had the first real opportunity when a quick lineout within sight of the opposition line caught everyone by surprise, but the ball was split forward before it could be carried across the line. Harborne responded through an unconverted try to snatch a slender lead. As Stafford reorganised Olly Greensill found room for a devastating run that culminated with the ball being punted forward and Stelian-Christian Ureche came within a fingertip of reaching the ball for a try. Harborne then suffered two consecutive injuries which lead to enforced changes in what was a solid back line. A dominant Stafford scrum camped out in sight of the Harborne line, but minor handling errors and strong defending denied the visitors any points. Stafford went into half time trailing 5 – 0 but making tough work of a difficult encounter.

Harborne came flying into the second half, but a Stafford penalty was pushed through the posts by Callum Jones for the first points of the half to cut the deficit. Two Harborne penalties could have extended the home side lead, but the posts remained elusive for the battling Birmingham side as they laid siege to the Stafford line. A yellow card temporarily reduced the visitors to fourteen on the pitch and Harborne took full advantage to score their second try of the afternoon but couldn’t add the conversion. The momentum of the game swung backwards and forwards as both teams looked for any advantage. As Stafford had a full team of XV restored on the pitch, Harborne were reduced to fourteen and then thirteen as they incurred the displeasure of the referee. With the clock against them Stafford launched continuous attacking phases which eventually stretched a tiring defence for Olly Greensill to cross the line for a try, Stelian-Christian Ureche adding the conversion to tie the game. With Harborne back up fourteen players it looked like the game was dwindling towards a draw. A final surge from Stafford released Brett Corcoran to fly down the wing muscling past the last defender for his debut first team try, Stelian-Christian Ureche adding the conversion for an exhausting victory.