RFU SENIOR VASE LONDON REGION FINAL
Old Merchant Taylors’ 19
Harrow 29
Club chairman Andy Smart half expected Harrow captain Dave West was going to ‘do a John Terry’ and collect the RFU Senior Vase London final trophy after Saturday’s win over rivals Old Merchant Taylors’.
Chelsea skipper Terry famously changed out of his suit and into his full Blues kit to lift the Champions League trophy in Munich in 2012, after watching the game from the sidelines in Germany due to a suspension.
West also missed his team’s final – albeit his unavailability was due to injury – but was in attendance as Harrow recorded a 29-19 victory to book a national semi-final date with Gloucester side Newent and move within one game of another dream run out at Twickenham.
West’s younger brother Chris wore the armband for the day in his absence, and had the honour of receiving the silverware, although Smart joked there had been rumblings in the camp that the regular captain would follow in the footsteps of the Chelsea captain.
“We lost Dave during the week and that was a bit of a concern but there was enough leaders in the team to get us home,” said Smart.
“I had to sort out who was going to pick the trophy up in advance and it came out through somebody else that he might do a John Terry and go and pick it up! I thought he was going to go up as well, but he didn’t and Chris went up to lift it. There was no socks and shin-pads either, Dave was in a tracksuit.
“He got his hands on it a bit later and was a bit aggrieved when I took it off him. I took it home with me and it’s sitting in my front room at the moment before I take it back down to the club at the weekend.”
The regular Harrow skipper will continue to watch from the touchline this weekend when Harrow return to league action against Stevenage Town, with Smart insisting promotion from London Three North West remains the priority.
“I’ve already spoken to the coach and the captain to reinforce that the most important thing for the club is promoted,” he added. “Promotion is much more important than getting to Twickenham. It’s not an either/or thing.
“We’ve got to get 12 points out of the next four games. Anything else will be a failure for us given our position now. I said at the start of the season that finishing third or fourth would be fantastic, but we’ve put ourselves in a position to get promoted now. I’ll be very disappointed if we don’t.”
Elsewhere, Pinner & Grammarians were beaten 69-15 in Herts/Middlesex Three by Old Isleworthians, with Chris Jepsen and Kit Smith scoring the tries and Fred Riley adding one conversion and a penalty.
