Harrow 29 - 31 BERFC

With British Summertime finally showing it’s colours, and that strange bright yellow object once more showing up (that’ll be Guy’s anorak) – the boys made the short trip across country to face Harrow, to be greeted by perfect playing conditions.

Harrow will be one of the teams in Division 3 with us next season - and previous matches between the two sides have always been keenly contested.

A dearth of travelling backs, and not for the first time this season in a friendly, our utility back row came to the rescue, with Andreas filling in at fullback, and Liam and Afam at inside and outside centres respectively.

And it was the first named of that trio who opened the scoring. With Barnet pressuring, a kicked clearance from the Harrow 22 was fielded on the full by Andreas who weaved drunkenly through the oncoming defence to put us 0 - 7 up with just six minutes on the clock.

Five minutes later and a strong run from Kadeem, and a fine supporting run from little Joel, saw the latter touching down in the corner 0 – 12.

With 5 minutes of the first half remaining, another clearance from the Harrow 22 was once again returned with interest, this time Pav cutting through to score in the opposite corner 0 – 17, with Harrow pulling once back with the final play of the first half 7 – 17 .

The second half saw Harrow stage a comeback, and with 10 minutes on the clock, two tries saw them edge ahead 19 – 17 – but further tries from Pav and Kadeem, and two great conversions by Tom Arch opened up the gap to 19 - 31 .

Harrow weren’t finished and responded with two tries of their own in the final 5 minutes, with a conversion to tie the match just beyond them with the final kick of the game - and wrapped up at 29 - 31.

A great game of rugby to watch (unless you were a defensive coach) – with 60 points in 60 minutes, echoes of some of the Amlin Cup games played over the same weekend.

Once again, the strength in depth we have in the squad has seen us through the absence of a number of key players. As well as our enforced patching of the back line, who put in a fine shift, our first friendly for a month gave us the opportunity to experiment a bit – and try some of our newer players in different positions.

Big Joel had his first taste in the front row, at loose head, and River had a run out at flanker. Both players acquitted themselves admirably, and give us further options to build on for next season. In addition, Scott, Jared and Jack, guys who make nearly every training session, were given a run out during the second half and gained valuable experience against A team opposition.