Tenbury 12 pts Harbury 25

TENBURY’S rugby players have ‘got the bit between their teeth and want to prove themselves in the league’.

That’s the message from skipper Pete Stevens after the club’s Twickenham dreams were crushed at Palmer’s Meadow last weekend.

Stevens said he was disappointed Tenbury’s Midlands Junior Vase run had come to an abrupt end at the third-round stage.

However, Stevens said his players had learnt lessons from their cup experience and were now ready to mount a promotion challenge.

Second-placed Tenbury travel to Uttoxeter in Midlands Four West (North) this Saturday.

“It’s been a good cup run and we have learnt a lot from it and we’ve had some great nights celebrating our wins down the club,” said Stevens.

“We all think that we could have beaten Harbury and, had we done that, there was no-one in the competition who could have stopped us. “We could see they were no better than us but they had some big boys and beat us in the pack.

“We are going to Uttoxeter on Saturday and the players have now got the bit between their teeth. They now want to prove themselves in the league.”

Four penalties from the reliable Alex Brazier and some strong tackling from Levi Barber kept Tenbury in touch against Harbury last weekend.

Tenbury were always chasing the game and trailed 13-3 at the break. But they were on the attack in the closing minutes and just 18-12 down.

“We were right under their posts but we got penalised for crossing,” said Stevens.

“They took a quick tap-penalty and their centres ran though and down the other end for a converted try.

“If we had had another 10 minutes, I know we would have turned them over.”

Harbury bagged their first try, which they converted, after slack Tenbury tackling inside five minutes.

The visitors also slotted two penalties to open up a 13-0 lead after 24 minutes. Brazier kicked a long-range penalty just before the interval as the hosts trailed 13-3 at the break.

Brazier then landed two further penalties to cut the deficit to just four points.

Harbury broke away to score their second try to lead 18-9 but Brazier’s fourth penalty gave Tenbury renewed hope.

“With five minutes to play, I thought we were going to score but in the end we left it too late,” said Stevens.

“We’ve got to concentrate on Uttoxeter, who are below us in the table, and it should be a good game.”