With the disappointment of their loss to fellow Midlands Five West title contenders Rugby St. Andrews still firmly in the Upton players' minds, a trip to bottom but one club Harbury seemed a chance for them to rid themselves of these demons. However a combination of a poor start from the Upton players, facing gale force winds and another poor performance from another Warwickshire man with the whistle ended in a 17-14 win for Harbury.
The early exchanges were fast paced and centred around the breakdown, with Harbury the more committed, and they were first to draw blood. The usually dependable Upton lineout, led by specialist Lorcan Lynch, was turned over and as Harbury went wide, their full back found space outside before stepping inside to score an unconverted try in the corner
Upton weren't to be deterred and strong ball carrying by the forwards, especially Lynch, created space outside and good hands by open side Oli Jones led to winger Matt Jeffreys cutting through the Harbury defence to score and Michael Dodge converted
The strong wind continued to play a big part and a Harbury rolling maul pulled in the back row before they ran a move to put the full back in under the posts for a try and easy conversion
Harbury were playing in the ascendancy and kept up their momentum as they moved the ball wide and several missed tackles gifted another unconverted try in the corner so giving a half time score of
Now without the wind in their faces, the onus was on Upton to attack. The forwards worked endlessly to get near the line and this lead to poachers try from the ever diligent Oli Jones and Dodge added the extras
Despite numerous attempts Upton were prevented from adding to their score even the post intervened to prevent a successful penalty kick at the end.
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