STOURBRIDGE 1st XV vs STAFFORD 1st XV. 22ND OCTOBER 2016. LEAGUE

Stourbridge 58 – 13 Stafford

Stafford travelled through the far south of the county for an away match against Stourbridge. The hosts were sitting top of the league with an unblemished record of four wins out of four with maximum points being squeezed out of each game.

The opening whistle let loose a clinical and well drilled Stourbridge XV on their latest opponents at Stourton Park. An early try for the home side set the scene for a very difficult first half of rugby. Stafford tried to settle but couldn’t prevent a second try within the first ten minutes. The county town team clawed their way into the game, gaining some territory, before the referees whistle disrupted all of the hard work. Three successive penalties hurled the home side back up the pitch to within sight of the posts for a kick to stretch the lead. Stafford infringements started to build and two further blasts from the referees whistle gifted the home side a further penalty kick to add to their tally. The visitors struggled to find any continuity in their play and a stalking Stourbridge took their third try from a charged down kick. Stafford then had their brightest five minutes of the half, a solid period of play ended with Quade Boal crashing through the centre to earn a penalty. Louis Dewsbury stepped up to kick the first visitors points of the afternoon. Stafford couldn’t build on the foray and two further Stourbridge tries closed the half earning the home side the bonus point. Stafford went into half time trailing by 37 – 3 and looking for a way back into the match.

Stafford started the second half strongly and an early scrum destroyed the opposition for the first time in the match. This gave the travelling XV a platform to attack the home side line and Stafford came close through Neil Green. The referees whistle relieved the pressure and the clinical Stourbridge XV broke out to add another try to their total. A battling Stafford started to gain some success and brutal forays by the forwards smashed the defence back across the line for Angus Lennon to ground the ball for a hard earned try. The kick off saw a second Stafford assault fight its way up the pitch, Dean Ainger came within a whisker of grounding the ball but the defence put in a last minute effort to deny the try. The visitors smuggled the ball along the line and the crashing impact of Carl Williams was enough to take Stafford’s second try of the afternoon. Stourbridge responded with two further tries of their own to finish off a difficult afternoon of rugby for the Stafford XV.