Stafford 1st XV travelled to Water Orton for the opening league away fixture of the season. Watton Lane has been a barren place for Stafford in recent years and points have been hard to come by. Injuries, illnesses and other commitments saw a very understrength Stafford XV taking the pitch for the second week running.

The game started evenly between the two teams and early exchanges promised a bright afternoon of rugby. The home side took the first points of the game with a well worked try which unsettled the visitors. Stafford continued to compete, but couldn’t quite find the rhythm needed to break the home side defence. Salts forced two more tries to enter half time with a comfortable lead which did nothing to reflect all of the tenacious hard work put in by Stafford.

Stafford started the second half at speed and managed to punch gaps into the defence. A Rich Martin penalty put some points on the board for the visitors, but they were a still a step short of producing a fluid attack. Salts pounced on a minor handling error to run in another try. The visitors were further disrupted when a blood injury lead to players being hastily reshuffled into covering positions. The home side didn’t allow Stafford to settle and seizing the opportunity grabbed their fifth try of the afternoon. A harsh yellow card reduced Stafford to fourteen and Salts took full advantage to score their sixth of the game. A battling Stafford side eventually got a small reward for all of their passion and persistence as Rich Martin found his way across the line for the final try of the afternoon.