The Bulldogs had the honour of opening the legacy of rugby at Coopers Park. A sizeable home team welcomed a much smaller eleven man travelling contingent from Cannock. Stafford lent the visitors a number of players throughout the afternoon to make it a competitive game of rugby.

Stafford settled the quickest and were soon on the scoreboard as Mark Broomhall powered his way over the line to score the first ever try at Coopers Park. The home side enjoyed the running rugby adding more points to their growing tally. Cannock wouldn’t lie down and got their reward through a try of their own.

The second half followed a similar pattern as Stafford extended their lead before Cannock grabbed their second try. The home team completed the scoring to finish resounding winners. A big thank you to Cannock for still coming over with only 11 players and to all those Stafford members who played for them. Scorers in the match:

Matt Smith; 3 tries
Ali Oxley; 1 try and 3 conversions
Jack Rose; 1 try
Paul Hanson; 1 try
Maciej Drywa; 1 try
Mark Broomhall; 1 try