With Aston already crowned League Champions, and Harbury unable to secure promotion, there was a danger of the game being something of a dead rubber. However, both sides contributed hugely to a highly competitive and close fought encounter, with Aston being forced to dig deep to secure victory.

A couple of late changes saw Tom Dartnell move onto the wing, with Joel Finnemore moving into the centre, and Ollie Loffman being called up to the replacements bench.

Karle Morgan led out the side on his 100th appearance, and it was great to see Paul Finnemore on the touchline helping out with some coaching after his recent health scares.

A large crowd (bolstered by it being Harbury’s Vice President’s lunch, and also that their 2nd XV could secure their league title with a home win) were entertained by 2 sides that were looking to move the ball around as much as possible, and who defended with considerable strength.

Harbury started the game strongly and forced an early 5 metre line out following a 50/22 but Aston were able to clear their lines through good spoiling work by Ray Brown. Aston then conceded a penalty within kicking distance which was missed, but had to rely on some dominant tackling from Ash Rana, Marcus Taylor, Ethan Channer and Jack Perry to keep the home side from scoring .

Having repelled Harbury, Aston went on the offensive, and after 15 minutes opted for a scrum deep into the 22 rather than a shot at goal from a penalty. The ball was moved along the backline several times before Richard Squires sold a trademark dummy and stretched over the line for the opening score, which he duly improved to open up a 7-0 lead.

5 minutes later Ray Brown was denied a try when the referee deemed that he knocked on over the line, and this was quickly followed by 2 other try scoring opportunities. Firstly Prince skipped along the touchline, was tackled short and popped the ball to Harry Pickard who was also held up short, and then Jack Perry was prevented from touching down following some excellent inter-passing moves.

Whilst Aston were dominant in the scrums, Harbury were gaining good line out possession which they used to set in motion their impressive three-quarters who were a constant threat, but ultimately well marshalled by the Aston midfield of Dan McKenna and Joel Finnemore, along with some outstanding full-back play from Harry Pickard who fielded superbly looked to counter attack or kicked well to gain territorial advantage on many occasions.

The second period saw Ollie Loffman introduced for his first game in the senior side. His contribution was impressive as the Aston scrum continued to dominate.

Almost immediately from the restart, Marcus Taylor secured a loose ball, Jack Perry drove it forwards for 20 metres before setting up a ruck, and Alex Ratcliffe spotted a gap to waltz over unopposed to extend the lead to 14-0.

Having opened up a comfortable lead, it seemed as if it was just a matter of time before the bonus point tries would come but the Warwickshire side had other ideas and responded strongly.

Aston did not help themselves by conceding multiple penalties as they came under pressure, with firstly Prince being shown a yellow card for a high tackle, and later on in the game Aston were reduced to 13 as both Ethan Channer and Marcus Taylor both had 10 minutes breaks as continual infringements continued and the referee’s patience ran thin.

Harbury capitalised on their first numerical advantage by scoring a well worked try in the corner after excellent handling in the backs. Aston had to defend for long periods and were grateful to Ethan Channer for a couple of raking kicks to relieve pressure, gaining a 50/22 on one occasion, before they extended their lead.

Tom Dartnell fielded a high kick well in midfield, and moved the ball left to Julius Hunt who made good ground before passing on to Richard Squires. Whilst looking for supporting runners, a gap opened up for him and he strolled over for his second try of the game in the left corner.

With Aston down to 13 for 10 minutes, Aston were again forced to dig deep, and some excellent kicking from scrum half Alex Ratcliffe relieved the pressure on a couple of occasions to help Aston maintain their 19-5 lead. The contributions in both tight and loose play from the front row players, Lea Ross, Jack Perry, Dave Fenton and Ollie Loffman were all noticeable, and showed the benefits of having mobile, ball handling players who are also technically sound.

This was a hard fought game between 2 strong sides, and acted as an excellent test before next week’s Cup match versus Veseyans from a higher league. Whilst Aston will be pleased with their game management and defence, they will also be looking at their discipline and over-exuberance at the breakdown, fully aware that higher placed sides will take more advantage of pressure, penalties and yellow cards.

Ollie Loffman was rightly nominated as Man of the Match for his great debut performance, but Ray Brown’s first half performance when he appeared to be in every movement was equally as impressive.

Pictured are Karle Morgan on his 100th 1st XV appearance, and Ollie Loffman on his 1st (of no doubt many).