Stafford Colts welcomed Dudley Kingswinford colts to the county ground for the return league fixture following their loss in the away fixture earlier on in the season.

Stafford colts were looking to get off to a fast start after a delayed kick off following traffic disruption for the visitors getting into Stafford. Following early pressure Stafford forced DK into conceding a penalty and kicked for the corner and from the subsequent lineout and driving maul Hugo Sutton forced his way over, Seb Conaghan added the conversion. Then from the re-start Stafford secured the ball and rucked up to half way, Archie Bent then put in an excellent box kick and forced the DK fullback to concede another lineout inside the 22. This time DK collapsed the driving maul but Stafford were not to be denied and from the next lineout and driving maul Colton McLaughlin scored the try. Stafford were 12 – 0 up after only 6 minutes played and had got the fast start they wanted.

DK then started to put some pressure on the home side by kicking into the Stafford backfield but the home side dealt with the speculative kicks well also helped by some try saving tackling by center Jack Raine. Then from DK scrum 10m out from the Stafford line the forwards turned the ball over and Stafford broke down the blind side. The ball was popped to Aiden Barker on the wing, and he gassed the opposition defence to score a wonderful solo try from 75m out. Unfortunately, he was not able to score under the posts and the conversion was missed. Stafford were now threatening to put the game out of reach of DK before half time and from another lineout on the DK line Hugo Sutton added his second try of the game from the driving maul. Stafford were now playing some flowing rugby with Seb Conaghan pulling the strings in the back line and putting Stafford in the right positions on the pitch. With the last play of the half Stafford drove to within 5m of the DK line and then Gurman Seehra picked and drove for the line. He was held up inches short but the ever alert scrum half Archie Bent picked the ball out of the ruck and placed it over the try line for the score. Half time score was 27 – 0 to the home side.

DK were obviously disappointed in their first half performance and from the kick off Stafford spilled the ball forward which gave DK good position in the Stafford 22 for the first time in the match really and they were able to manufacture a score under the posts. Stafford came back at DK and created several excellent try scoring opportunities with full back Oliver Croft having several excellent runs through the DK defence. Following one such run after 16 minutes of the second half, the ball was recycled and passed down the line and Jack Raine was able to score in the corner under some heavy cover tackles from DK. With the game effectively won the urgency to score more points from the home side seemed to disappear from the game but DK were unable to capitalise on a couple of scoring opportunities of their own when Stafford were down to 14 men following a couple of yellow cards. Then with the last play of the game the forwards and backs combined and winger Aiden Barker was able to grab his second try on the game which Seb Conaghan converted. Final score was 39 – 7 to Stafford colts.

It was an excellent result for Stafford which keeps their push to win the league on track. The forwards and backs combined well and the combination of determined forwards at the breakdown and fast decisive backs moves brought their rewards. That plus some excellent positional kicking from fly half Seb Conaghan and scrum half Archie Bent kept Stafford in the right parts of the field and DK on the back foot and having to attack from deep. Jack Raine had an excellent game topped off with a score on his first start for the main colts side and he was supported well in midfield by Finn Osmant. Forwards Oscar Hall-Davies, Gurman Seehra, Hugo Sutton and Archie Paul were also stand out performers.

Lets work hard in training this week and get ready to face another league game against Sutton Coldfield next Sunday.
Mark