Saturday saw Harrow back to league action for the visit of St Albans to Grove Field.
Fielding a back line with an average age of 22, pace right across the pitch, and considerable power up front the crowds that lined the touchline were expectant for a display of running rugby and on the pitch the players from both sides more than lived up to the expectation.

Harrow got the scoreboard (metaphorically) moving on 13 minutes when after repeated offences near their line Jez opted to tap and go, and burst over from 5 metres out near the right corner, and with Billy Argent on superb kicking form again converting Harrow 7-0 to the good.
Within a couple of minutes of the restart Harrow were further ahead when a great line break by Billy saw Harrow again just stopped near the right corner, and from the resulting breakdown Jamie Taffs danced his way through the St Albans defence to touchdown and again converted Harrow now 14-0 up and the tone for the day well and truly set.
Harrows next try was a combination of forwards and backs when a superb flat Ed Harcombe pass found Doug McDonald, and he galloped fully 30 yards through flailing St Albans defence before being caught just short, but his offload found a flying Tom Beech – who completed the final few yards to touch down in almost the same place as the first two tries, and again having already nailed 2 conversions from the same location Billy again slotted through and 21-0 to Harrow.
Harrows 4th was sandwiched between 2 tries from St Albans – but owed a lot to another fine line break from Jez, who floated a pinpoint pass over the St Albans defence to find Des Ogboru, and he powered over , and Harrow had the try bonus point secured with only 30 minutes on the clock – and led 26-12 going into the break.
Second half got underway with probably the pick of the tries, a turnover on half way saw Baran break right, his pass found Ed Harcombe, and his miss pass took three st Albans defenders out of ther equation, and Tom Linden cut in from the right wing, he found Tom Beech who powered on, and from the resulting ruck Ed found Santos running a perfect line and his oft hands found Billy in space on the right wing and he touched down to complete fantastic flowing move and he converted his own try to put Harrow 33-12 ahead.
Harrow were now in full “game mode” and scored 4 more unanswered tries across the next 15 minutes – first Tom Beech finished a flowing move in the left corner, Tom Linden capitalised on some poor St Albans handling to scoop a loose ball and go half the length of the pitch to score under the posts, an outrageous Shane Togher dummy saw space for Cam Grant to gallop over, and then almost immediately a kick though was gathered by Billy covering, he found Tom Linden and he in turn found Ben Hutton who accelerated away to score -the game had now gone away from St Albans – but to their credit they rallied again and scored 2 tries either side of Harrows final try which was another powerful run from Des Ogboru who scythed through the St Albans defence from just outside the 22.
Final score 66-26 – and ten tries and 8 conversions, with a great mix across the forwards and backs, and 5 tries from the front 5 which probably also highlights the skill and fitness levels right across the team currently.
Some real standout performances on the day – Billy Argent who showed again a real high level of skill, pace and awareness at 10, Des – who had probably one of his strongest games to date, Ed Harcombe whose distribution and speed of ball and decision making really allows Harrow to play on the front foot, and of course the bench of Shane Togher, Mark Gibson and Josh Raitamata who all brought geat control and experience when called upon throughout the match.
Next up Old Millhillians who sit one place and a few points above Harrow currently, and promises to be another feast of running rugby. Saturday 23rd March away at Headstone Lane.
2 league fixtures to go, a Papa Johns cup home fixture and a sevens season almost upon us – the squad is peaking at exactly the right moments, and an entertaining season finale is on the cards.

Team: Cameron Grant ; Des Ogboru ; Jeremy Itoje (capt) ; Jamie Taffs ; Doug McDonald ; Baran Kendal ; Matt McKeown ; Santos Rodriguez , Ed Hardcombe ; Billy Argent ; Ben Hutton ; Dan McAvoy ; Tom Beech , Tom Linden ; Tom Hutton , Shane Togher ; Josh Raitamata ; Mark Gibson.