Stafford Colts started strongly, pinning Newcastle down inside their own 22 and utilising clean ball from both scrum and lineout to gain good field position. The speed of the play soon found the Newcastle defence offside and from the resulting Penalty Kick Josh Arnold nudged the Colts into and early lead 3-0 Stafford. The restart saw Stafford Colts once again camped in the Newcastle 22 and a well won Stafford Lineout gave the backs clean ball from which a well worked move saw Ollie Leigh slice through the defence for a try, converted by Josh Arnold 10-0 Stafford. With Newcastle being starved of possession they could only defend from within their own half as the strong Stafford pack forced them backwards and with 5 minutes of the half remaining George Lennon was driven over for a try, once again converted by Josh Arnold 17-0 Stafford. Newcastle rallied for the remainder of the half, but the Stafford defence held them out. 17-0 Stafford at half time.

Newcastle started the 2nd half as they had finished the 1st, using fast ball from the breakdown to push the Stafford defence back towards their own try line and forcing errors that soon produced a Yellow card for the Stafford Scrum Half and a stint in the Sin Bin. Newcastle seized on the opportunity of having an extra man to stretch the Stafford defence resulting in a well worked converted try 17-7 Stafford. Brave defending and hard work from Stafford denied Newcastle from getting more points before Scrum Half Mike Davis returned to the field of play. Back on level terms Stafford once again found themselves camped in the Newcastle half and forcing mistakes from the Newcastle defence. A penalty kick from Josh Arnold struck the post and with Gregor Lennon winning the chase to set up great field position the Stafford forwards drove towards the try line before Josh Nicholls broke away to drive then dive over the line for a well earned try converted by Josh Arnold 24-7 Stafford. Newcastle were not finished and soon pounced on a Stafford Defensive error to score a well worked try 24-12 Stafford. Final Score 24-12 Stafford. Both teams should be congratulated for providing an afternoon of hard fast entertaining rugby for the large crowd.
This puts Stafford Colts into the Staffordshire County Colts Cup Final against Wolverhampton to be played at Burntwood on the 23rd April 2016 1300 kick off.
Next Sunday 10th April see’s the Colts return to North Mids Colts League fixtures with a Home game against Church Stretton 1400 kick off.