Final match of 2020 saw Stafford Colts travel to Walsall Colts to fulfill the re-arranged league fixture on a cold and foggy Sunday afternoon.
With 4 senior colts away representing the County and an earlier start than normal Stafford would have to work hard to beat Walsall on their home turf.

Stafford started quite well in the first 5 minutes and were narrowly denied the opening try. However, after that Stafford went a bit flat for some reason and made handling error after handling error and gave away lots of silly penalties at the breakdown and it was only a matter of time before Walsall took advantage. Walsall scored their first try under the posts and their second out wide on the left when Stafford’s defensive back line went missing. Half time score was 12- 0 to Walsall.

The second half saw 3 of the senior colts who represented the county in the morning return to help the team out. Stafford scored the first try of the second half when standoff Will Roue threw a double miss out pass to Owen Smith who joined the line from full back and scorched home to score. However, rather than taking control of the match for some reason Stafford stood back defensively in the middle of the park and allowed Walsall to score their third try when their standoff beat 6 Stafford defenders. Then a speculative Walsall kick from midfield saw them catch Owen Smith on his own line and from the resulting penalty for holding on they forced their way over the line. With time running out and the match lost Stafford scored their second try when Eddie Unwin dived over in the left-hand corner, Will Roue added a very difficult conversion to leave the final score as Walsall 24 Stafford 12.

It was a match that Stafford should have and could have won but lots of handling mistakes, unnecessary penalties and not being on the front foot defensively saw then slip to fourth league defeat of the first half of the season. Maybe it was due to the impending Christmas break or the Christmas parties the night before but Stafford did not look on it right from the start of the warm up which then spilled into a poor performance on the pitch especially in the first half.

Anyway, its time for a Christmas break and a re-jigg of the colts leagues so lets see who we are asked to play in the second half of the season. Have a good Christmas and see you all in the New Year.

Cheers
Mark