Tuesday 19th April saw Stafford Colts playing in the 1st round of the Fred Rowley Memorial Trophy. This is an invitation only tournament held over three successive Tuesday evenings, with the first round opposition for the county town colts being near neighbours Veseyans.

Kick off was at 8 p.m. under artificial lighting, Veseyans came out of the blocks at full speed using the high ball combined with the floodlights to good effect. Veseyans soon opened up a 15-5 lead, Stafford’s only response being an unconverted try scored by Chris Hinchliffe. The Stafford Colts sensed the game slipping away and knew they had to respond with intensity and pace. The remainder of the half saw Stafford piling on all the pressure and getting their reward through two tries for Will Turner & Dean Ainger, both converted by Dean Ainger. Stafford went into half time with a fighting lead of 15 - 19.

The second half proved a totally different affair with the Stafford Colts controlling all aspects of the game and not allowing the Veseyans forwards to settle into a rhythm and running everything back at them. Two more unconverted tries from Chris Hinchliffe gave the colts a sizeable lead. However, some indiscipline saw Stafford reduced to 14 men and they were soon under immense pressure from Veseyans trying to take advantage of their extra man. Stafford held on with superb defence and once back to a full complement scored a further unconverted try through Prop Forward Ben Chatfield. Final score Veseyans Colts 15 – 34 Stafford Colts.

This now puts Stafford Colts into the Semi Final against Sutton Coldfield Colts on Tuesday 26th April kick off 7:30 at Walsall.