COALVILLE 1st XV vs STAFFORD 1st XV. 28th NOVEMBER 2015.

Coalville 19 – 0 Stafford

Stafford travelled to Coalville for the second round of the intermediate cup. Both teams were having fairly similar seasons in their respective leagues, with Coalville holding the home field advantage for the tie. The afternoon started with an exceedingly warm welcome form the hosts inside the club, but the conditions outside were looking more than testing.

A wicked wind, water soaked pitch and sheeting rain almost drowned out the referees whistle at the start of the game. The first ten minutes saw the visitors struggling to get to grips with Leicestershire rugby rules as the referee started to penalise for a series of early infringements. Stafford were further disrupted when Dean Ainger was side-lined following an eye injury leading to an early substitution. Coalville continued to ramp up the pressure and when they bought additional weight into an already heavy pack, it looked to be only a matter of time until there were points on the board. Stafford had other ideas, strong defence and muddy counter attacking negated any momentum that the home side could build. With the saturated pitch sucking the life out of any speed, the half looked to be wallowing its way towards a draw, but in a final twist an unexpected yellow card for the visitors temporarily reduced them to a bewildered fourteen. Stafford went into half time drawing 0 – 0, with both teams soaked to the skin and dark skies providing a grey backdrop.

The referees whistle pushed Stafford deep into their own half from the restart with difficult visibility and the county town team struggling to understand the referees instruction in the autumnal conditions. Coalville took full advantage with two quick tries before the visitors had sufficiently reorganised to respond to the requirements of the referees instructions. Stafford shook themselves back into shape starting to build some periods of penetration, when injuries to Sam Bedworth and Rich Martin snatched away any continuity for the team. The return of head coach Darren Mottershead to the playing field bolstered the moral of the visiting XV and almost immediately his presence was felt on pitch by the opposition. Coalville snatched another try as Stafford rotated their remaining players across the increasingly vacant positions. Further misery was heaped on the travellers through a second yellow card to snatch away any remote possibility of contesting the game. The final mud splattered period saw Coalville reduced to fourteen on the pitch and a sky so dark that only the referee remained clearly visible in his luminous yellow top.