STAFFORD 1ST XV vs BURNTWOOD 1ST XV. 2ND DECEMBER 2017. LEAGUE MATCH.

Stafford 17 – 11 Burntwood

Stafford welcomed Burntwood to the County Ground for the penultimate home game of the year. The visitors travelled with an impressive record of seven wins and one draw for the season holding onto a solid second place in the league. Stafford went into the game off the back of a comprehensive win the previous week cementing their third place in the league.

The first minutes of the game had barely elapsed when an injury for Callum Jones forced Stafford to reshuffle the starting XV. An early series of forays, by the home side, ate up the opposition territory to earn a penalty. Without his kicking partner to share the load, Josh Arnold stepped up to slot the ball for the first point of the afternoon. The Burntwood response was instantaneous, a period of brutal play rolling them up the pitch for an equalising penalty to tie the scores. Stafford regrouped, launching some crippling attacks to prise open holes in a defiant defence. A punishing run along the wing by Callum Hoy saw the second row being bought down by the final defender a few metres short of the line. The Stafford pressure was relentless and it was left to Will Turner to muscle through the last of the defence for a try, converted by Josh Arnold. The visitors reacted through their forwards who took a more direct route which left both sides sucking up any available oxygen. Rhys Williams swung the momentum back with a break which tore through the visitors, a final pass allowing Tom Williams to display his kicking skills as he poked the ball into space. Burntwood settled to threaten the Stafford line but couldn’t get through a tenacious defence, finally having to settle for the penalty kick to narrow the deficit. The half ended with a yellow card for the visitors which reduced them to fourteen on the field. Stafford went into half time leading 10 – 6, but in a closely contested encounter which could still go either way.

The restart saw a long kick from Oscar Saunders which was knocked on by the visitors. Stafford built a steady platform from the subsequent scrum and once the ball had found its way into the hands of captain, Oli Greatholder, nothing was going to stop the try, converted by Josh Arnold. A Stafford penalty could have stretched the score further, but wouldn’t find its way across the posts. With a full team back on the pitch Burntwood started to find some success and got their reward through an unconverted try to claw their way back into contention. The visitors continued to cause havoc in the home side half but couldn’t get beyond a solid defence. With both sides looking exhausted an injury to Josh Arnold saw the Stafford player being stretchered off the pitch. Two final Stafford penalties could have added to the points tally, but the posts remained elusive for the County Town side, before the referee’s whistle bought an end to a competitive top of the table encounter.