Bridgenorth v Stafford Colts 03/04/2022

Stafford Colts traveled to Bridgenorth to play an away league game however, due to injuries Bridgenorth were unable to field a front row so had forfeited the league points and the match was played with uncontested scrums.

Bridgenorth scored straight from the kick-off when Stafford failed to field the kick and gifted Bridgenorth a 5 meter scrum where they scored by spreading the ball wide. After that terrible start Stafford regained their composure but struggled gain dominance over a fast Bridgenorth side. However, after 25 minutes the pressure applied by the Stafford side started to pay dividends and Rob Jones, making his first start of the season, ran a great angle close to the Bridgenorth line and crashed over under the posts. Seb Conaghan added the simple conversion. The second Stafford try came soon after when Gurman Seehra found himself in space at the side of a ruck and strolled over to score his first try of the season, Seb again added the simple conversion. Then with time running out in the half a break from deep saw Hugo Sutton put Alfie O’Brien through a gap with a perfect tip pass, Alfie made 30 meters before passing to Archie Bent on his outside who in turn gave a round the back no look pass to Rob Jones cutting in off the wing who finished the wonderful team try off near the corner flag. Half time score was 5 – 19 to Stafford.

Half time saw Bridgenorth reduced to 12 men due to injuries so Stafford were obliged to also reduce their numbers to 12 which put the away side at a disadvantage due to the balance of forwards and backs on the team. Bridgenorth took advantage of the change and scored 3 quick fire long range tries through their excellent backs and fullback. Determined not to lose the game Stafford rallied and tried to slow the game down and regain control. That paid dividends when Spencer Latham crashed over from close range and Seb added the conversion. Then with 5 minutes to go Ben Dodd, now operating in his more familiar position in the pack rather than the centers, forced his way over the Bridgenorth line and then added a spectacular conversion himself followed by the words “See I told ya I could kick”. Final score was 24 – 33 to Stafford.

It was a strange game all in with uncontested scrums and then reduced playing numbers down to 12 v 12. This prevented Stafford from executing their normal style of play and meant the forwards had to play a lot looser game and work a lot harder round the pitch. Eventually the team got to grips with the match and ran out winners in the end. There were some excellent performances from the u16’s playing up with the colts, Ollie and Tom Croft looked very sharp and made some excellent tackles, even though Ollie had to go off after 20 minutes with a cut above his eye. Seb Conaghan had a good game operating at standoff for the first time and Charlie Kirby made some strong runs from number 8 in the second half.

Next time out it’s the Colts last home fixture of the season, a friendly against a strong Luctonians side, hopefully everyone can get down to support the lads.

See you all at training.
Mark