Stafford Colts played a league fixture away at Newport RUFC on a wet and blustery afternoon.

The wet and blustery conditions did not bode well for an open and flowing game of rugby and so it proved to be a game of two halves. Stafford, playing with the wind in the first half put Newport under a lot of pressure at the start of the game which led to the home side committing several penalty offenses two of which James Milan converted for an early 0 – 6 lead. Newport slowly came back into the game with a spell of pressure in the Stafford half but good defense and clearing kicks from the Stafford Colts kept them at bay. From a scrum close to the Newport line Stafford pilled on the pressure with a series of short range forward runs which resulted in Tom Kirby forcing his way over the Newport line. James Milan adding the conversion. The first half ended with Stafford being reduced to 14 men when the referee adjudged a Stafford player to have deliberately knocked the ball on. Half time score 0 – 13 to Stafford.

With a numerical advantage and the wind at their backs Newport started the second half strongly and they soon scored two quick tries of their own to take the lead on the score board. It soon became clear that Stafford probably had not made the most of the conditions during the first half. A third Newport try was added half way through the second half but Stafford started to come back into the game with some strong running from fullback and the centers following clearance kicks from Newport. From a lineout close to the Newport line Ben Dodd was able to force his way over with Connor McCulloch adding the difficult conversion to reduce the deficit 21 – 20 with 5 minutes remaining in the game. However, Stafford were unable to get near the Newport line again with the home side kicking a long range penalty as time ran out. The final score being 24 – 20 to Newport.

It was a close hard fought game with both sides playing some good rugby at times. Stafford should have probably made more of the windy conditions in the first half but it was a good showing against an unbeaten Newport side. You can see that Stafford Colts are improving with each game they play which is encouraging for the remaining four league fixtures before Christmas.

Well done lads there are some small technical things to work on in training over the next couple of weeks ahead of the next league game against Wolverhampton. Enjoy the week off next Sunday and come back raring to go.

Mark