Dudley K 0 vs 32 Stafford

So after the heart shown on Friday , some of the players showed further grit by turning out Sunday morning after a few players were unable to make the trip to Dudley. Jonah , captain supreme ,sporting a black eye, steri strips and Vaseline was some how ready to lead the team, although am sure he was happy that the scrum was going to be uncontested as Dudley didn’t have a front row.
It’s been a while since we played the west midlanders and we were greeted with some light drizzle (which thankfully would turn to sun) and a pitch that although dry was heavy going under foot.
The early skirmishes were short as both teams looked to get a foot hold, Dudley were arguably the bigger team physically, but our Terriers are called Terriers for a reason in that, it doesn’t matter the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog and we have that in spades.
An early penalty allowed Matty to make good ground and some smart decision making by Will Vn kept Stafford in control. Every time Stafford looked to open the scoring, Dudley managed to turn the ball over and kicked the ball away, on one of those clearances Leon (yep back at 15), returned the ball and fed Cayden only for some last ditch tackles preventing him scoring his first try. This shot across the bows didn’t deter Dudley from kicking it back to Leon who each time made good ground, after one such return, Stafford went wide with lovely hands by George almost putting Declan in, only for a knock on to halt the away teams progress.
Stafford were undeterred and playing some good rugby with forwards and backs alike keeping the ball alive, Ollie and Cayden again were involved making good yards and securing possession. Perhaps the only surprise was the score remaining at 0-0 as the first quarter came to an end.
The second quarter continued in the same vain, Stafford making short yards, sucking in defenders then punching through, this time Danail from 8 making a big carry into the Dudley half.
Dudley though kept coming back and it took some good tackles from Harry W and a combination of Declan and Matty keeping the home team at bay and off the scoreboard.
As the seconds ticked towards the half time mark, Stafford continued to push, this time Leon, Danail, Cayden and Ollie were involved up the far side, offloading in the tackle and keeping the ball alive, battering deep into Dudley 22. The call came to go wide right, and Harry W fed George who stood up a couple of Dudley defenders (for the 4th time that half) , this time the pass stuck and Declan finished for his first try for Stafford, I don’t think a try has been celebrated more by coaches and players alike. Again it shows the team ethic, spoiler *** my own son scored in the second half and I didn’t celebrate anywhere near as much as I did Declan’s *** (0-5) and with that the half time whistle sounded and Stafford entered the break in the lead.
With a couple of substitutions and a real skip in their step, Stafford started the second half as they’d finished the first , on the front foot. A penalty was kicked deep into the Dudley 22 and from the ensuing line out Ed would power to the line only to be kept out by a last ditch tackle, Stafford though recycled and Carter would drop his head and power over the line to continue the scoring (0-10).
Then came a sequence that the Dudley left winger will forever have nightmares about. Dudley kicked low and short with the ball bouncing off Dannys back into the hands of Joe. His quick thinking allowed him to strike a super kick, deep into the opposition half. The prop (who don’t forget converted back to the position from centre) raced after the kick. The Dudley winger collected the ball and as he got to his feet was “eaten up” by Joes tackle. A great kick chase and one which kept Stafford on the front foot and the Dudley winger on the floor. Stafford would be unable to convert the territory and Dudley found themselves with a line out 40 metres from their own line. With all the forwards in, they went quick off the top but the scrum half paused for a brief second before unleashing a long floaty pass to the fly half, this was enough time to allow Jake to shoot out from the back of the line out, intercept the ball and sprint in almost untouched (0-15).
Dudley continued to push which is a credit to them and they looked to get a try back and only a great covering tackle by Connor (in at 15) prevented them for doing so. As the Stafford pack turned the ball over, Ollie carried big again and made good ground, it was a quick recycle which saw Harry put a long pass into Will B, who spotted a very flat line, the inside centre kicked through on the diagonal for the on rushing Carta (on the wing) who picked up and showed speed and strength to brush off a wannabe tackler before dotting the ball down, (0-22 conv Will Vn).
The game was breaking up but was maintaining a spicy feel to it ! We even got to see the ‘firework’ move, which lets be honest was more of a squib than a banger (more work to do !), but Stafford continued to push and found themselves in the Dudley 22 thanks to great work in the ruck again by Ollie, his steal led to the Stafford backs running a tracker and loop which was started by Harry W and finished by Harry W off a pop from Cayden (0-27). The grin was only matched by James (coach), who would have been out of pocket if Harry had passed to Will outside him !
With the sun now out and the clock ticking down, a second memorable moment came to pass, the ball deep in the Stafford half was gathered by Ollie, who dropped a superb ‘goose’ step accompanied by a head flick that had players and spectators cheering, from the recycled ball Will B and Carta went blind with the latter selling a lovely dummy before passing back inside to the former who would score the final try of the day.
Although the score would suggest a one sided game it was far from it and the Stafford players put in a shift, especially when tasked at 0-15 to keep the opposition out when it would have been far easier to let them score a couple. It’s that work rate and effort again spreading through the squad.
It was also great to see some players get the just deserves from the hard work and effort that they constantly put in “We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort” (Jesse Owens, Athlete), I think after the last three days, some of our players will have a good night sleep tonight and don’t they deserve it.
Honourable mentions to Ollie whose goose step was the icing on the top of an excellent performance, Jake who is clearly getting back to his best, Will Vn and Harry W who marshalled the game well and Declan who kept his emotions in check after his try compared to a certain coach , but MOTM was George, his lines of running and timing of passes led to space after space for those outside him, we also saw him put some tackles in that snuffed out possible attacking chances.

Happy Mothers Day !