Classic win sees Wanderers home (From Worcester News)

Classic win sees Wanderers home

5:05pm Monday 8th February 2010 in

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WORCESTER Wanderers recorded an excellent 11-6 win against Market Harborough at Weston Fields in the quarter-final of the Midlands Intermediate Cup.

The physical Harborough forwards took the game to Wanderers from the kick-off, driving into the heart of the home defence.

The hosts’ tackling, though, was exemplary and they regularly turned their opponents over.

Moving the ball wide to the left, a pass found Wanderers’ Chris Jenkinson, who outpaced the defence, before a great tackle stopped him just short of the line.

The support was there, but a covering Harborough player cynically killed the ball and was duly dispatched to the sin bin. Wanderers kicked to the corner and Chris Griffiths crashed over from the line-out to score, while fly-half Greg Fincher hit the post with the conversion attempt.

The home team continued to dominate and Harborough infringed again. This time Fincher was on target to open up an eight-point lead.

As Harborough hit back, Griffiths appeared to win the ball only for the referee to deem he had gone off his feet and he was sent to the bin.

The visiting fly-half converted the penalty, via the crossbar.

Harborough started the second-half in style, putting Wanderers’ defence under pressure.

They set up camp near the try line before driving the ball over, but the referee adjudged it had been held up.

Wanderers thought they had weathered the storm, but were caught offside in front of the posts and the Harborough fly-half converted the simple opportunity.

The hosts seized the initiative and edged both the territory and possession statistics as the Harborough forwards tired.

Wanderers’ hooker Simon James charged down a clearance kick from the Harborough scrum-half and won the race for the touch down, but the ball was judged to have crossed the dead-ball line. With minutes remaining, Wanderers moved the ball left then right, before Jenkinson chipped for the corner. However, the Harborough defence forced the ball into touch.

The visitors scrapped hard to regain possession, forcing a line-out just inside their 22. A relieving kick to touch was taken back into the Harborough 22 and the referee set the line-out from where the ball was kicked.

The increasingly frustrated Harborough players protested and the referee awarded Wanderers a penalty.

Fincher made no mistake to secure victory in an excellent, old fashioned cup match, which was thoroughly enjoyed by the large crowd.