Stafford 1st XV took the winding journey to Ludlow for the last league away game of the year. This was an important fixture for both teams as they looked to claw their way up from the bottom of the table. Ludlow holding the home field advantage and with their previous weeks win over Shrewsbury looked a difficult proposition for the visitors.

Ludlow took an early lead through a converted try and the opening exchanges were mainly dictated by the home team. Stafford worked their way back into the encounter and settled into a series of probing attacks. The Ludlow defence struggled to cope with the surging attackers and Dave Freeman found his way across the line for the try, the Rich Martin conversion tying the scores. A Ludlow penalty put them back into the driving seat and a yellow card increased the pressure as the visitors were reduced to fourteen men. Stafford wouldn’t lie down and a Rich Martin penalty bought the scores back even. Back up to a full team, Stafford looked the more dangerous side, but a second yellow card on the stroke of half time took away any momentum that they were building up. Stafford went into half time drawing 10 – 10, but having had to fight their way back into the game on two occasions.

The fourteen man Stafford squad started the second half firing on all cylinders and their reward was a Rich Martin penalty to take the lead for the first time in the afternoon. An injury to Dean Ainger saw him side-lined for the remainder of the afternoon and led to Stafford having to reshuffle playing positions. Back up to a full XV, Stafford applied the pressure and another Rich Martin penalty stretched the lead away from the home side. Just as they were settling into the comfortable lead, the visitors were reduced to fourteen men for the third time in the game as the referee wielded another yellow card. The eventual strain of playing 30 minutes of the game with 14 men took its toll on the visitors and Ludlow ran in a converted try to snatch the lead by one point. Stafford fought until the final whistle, but couldn’t find a way back through a battling Ludlow defence.