Nuneaton 29 Market Harborough 10

On the last weekend of the league rugby for the 2023-24 season, Nuneaton claimed victory and the League Championship as they defeated second placed Market Harborough 29-5. Victory was secured with tries from Travis Bennett-Allcock, Tom Smitham, Tom Aherne and a pair for Joe Wilson. Lucas Brindley added two conversions.

At a sunny but blustery Liberty Way, the Nuns came into the game knowing that they needed just one league point to claim the league title with Market Harborough needing to win with a bonus point and stop Nuns gaining a point. Lutterworth, in third, also had an outside chance but required to win their game with a bonus point and hope that Nuns picked up nothing and Harborough won without a bonus point!

The Nuns played with the wind at their back and having received the first kick off, Joe Wilson sent a 50-22 kick from in the home 22m to within 6m of the visitors try line. From the first line out it was clear that with the wind so strong securing ball here was going to be a lottery. The Nuns spent the early parts of the game in the ascendancy and putting the Harborough under pressure.

With the game in its early stages Harborough’s task to topple the Nuns soon got a lot harder. In the 5th minute Ben Dawes took a short ball from a ruck and, like two Walrus’s trying to show supremacy, he was met by his opposite number in the tackle. Unfortunately for the Harborough player his tackle was high and led with his shoulder and no arm wrap. Dawes got up as quick as went down in the challenge but the referee blew for a penalty, after talking through his decision with the opposing captain he then showed the Harborough tight head prop a straight red card to little complaint from the player.

Just two minutes later the Nuns opened the scoring from a centre field scrum on the 22m. The ball was moved wide for Bennett-Allcock to beat his man and cross for a try. Brindley added a well struck conversion and the score was 7-0 after 8 minutes.

Market Harborough didn’t let their heads drop though and came back at the Nuns. Play was kept between the two 22m’s and they showed why they had had a 15 game winning streak earlier in the season as they posed a number of threats to the Nuns. In the 18th minute number 8 Martin Wood was shown a yellow card for a high tackle.

Just a few minutes later Harborough were on the score board after a break down the short side from a scrum allowed them to recycle and work their wing into the corner. The kicker had little chance into the wind and the score was 7-5 on 20mins.

Both sides continued to toil without ever getting to close to adding to their tally.

The Nuns then got themselves further ahead as they applied pressure with the half coming towards a close. In the 35th minute Wilson took a short reverse pass from Smitham to cross from 10m out under the posts. Brindley’s conversion went wide though and so the score was 12-5 which stayed the same until half time.

The second half commenced with the wind dropping slightly and started to go towards a corner more than straight down the field. Market Harborough showed that it was still possibly to play with ball in hand into the wind and the Nuns new that they needed just two more tries.
The Nuns were first to score in the second half on 48 minutes. From a scrum near half way 20m in from touch Martin Wood picked and went down the blindside. Beating his man and then offloading to Smitham who darted for the corner and managed to stretch for the score whilst holding off the defender. Brindley had little chance with the kick but the lead was extended to 17-5.

On 55 minutes came the telling play. Firstly a scrum penalty was achieved and the ball sent to the corner for a line out. Even in the tricky wind ball was secured at the back of the line and a maul set up. All eight forwards piled in and nudged forward with Aherne getting the ball down for the bonus point try and the point required. Brindley added the extras to take the lead to 24-5.

The Nuns came charging straight back from the kick off and after going through a number of phases, Aherne set off on a bulloching 30m charge to take the ball 10m shy of the try line. Two phases later and Wilson crashed over for his second try which was unconverted leaving the score 29-5.

There was now a threat that the floodgates could open but to their credit Market Harborough gave as good as they got. The Nuns picked up a second high tackle yellow card to Wilson on 68 minutes but neither team could make a breakthrough.

The final points of the game came on the last whistle when Harborough stretched play and their winger scored a try which went unconverted leaving the final score 29-10 and promotion secured.

Head Coach Huw Thomas thoughts at the end “The squad we have deserve full credit for the win and the league success. We set a target at the start of the season which we have hit in getting promoted straight back up. It’s through hard work and determination that this has been achieved. I think the most impressive thing has been a run of 14 bonus points wins in a run. We hit a point when we lost at Peterborough when we knew we couldn’t afford to slip up again and that was right as it came down to the last game.”

1 James Redman 2 Toby Dearden 3 Ben Dawes 4 Nick Walton 5 Tom Aherne 6 Rudi Reid 7 George Wallis 8 Martin Wood 9 Tom Smitham 10 Lucas Brindley 11 Travis Bennett-Allcock 12 Tom Eales 13 Ryan Preston 14 Harry Beverley 15 Joe Wilson; 16 Ben Holmes 17 Todd Bullions 18 Ben Kirby