Stafford Colts traveled to Droitwich for the first time to play a friendly fixture instead of playing a home fixture against Longton who were forced to cancel due to lack of players.

Stafford were quick out of the blocks and put Droitwich under pressure straight from the kick off. Seb Conaghan chipped behind the Droitwich defense and the bouncing ball deceived the defenders and Charlie Kirby dived on the loose ball for the opening score, Seb adding the simple conversion. Droitwich responded with a converted try of their own after 12 minutes following some slick handling in midfield. There then followed a period were neither side could take control of the game both sides were making mistakes in centre field and gifting promising positions back to the opposition. A series of penalty moves close to the Droitwich did not result in any points and eventually Stafford decided to take the simple 3 points. Half time score was 7 – 10 to Stafford.

The second half started in similar fashion to the first with neither side being able to establish a dominate position or have sustained pressure on the opposition line. Stafford had some good breaks from their own half but were unable to convert the chances into points. Then Droitwich broke from Infront of their own posts and a speculative kick down field caught the Stafford fullback out of position and a chasing back Seb Conaghan was unable to prevent the Droitwich player from reaching out for the try line to score their 2nd try. Stafford responded by playing a lot more quickly and getting the ball into the wider channels. Droitwich started to struggle to cope with the strong running of Dan Poultney and Oliver Croft and as a result some desperate last dich defending saw the ball popped to wing forward Daniel Clements who dived over to score, Seb adding the conversion. With the Droitwich defenders tiring Stafford launched wave after wave of attacks out wide with Dan Poultney leading the charge, there was some last ditch defending from Droitwich but a series of sharp off loads from Stafford saw full back Aiden Barker touch down for the third Stafford try, Seb adding the conversion. As time ran out Stafford were still launching attacks at a tired Droitwich defense running from their own line up to the opposition 22 only for the ball to run into touch from what was supposed to be a simple chip through from Dan P. Final score saw Stafford run out worthy winners 12 – 24.

It was a good game played in the right spirit and gave Stafford the opportunity to play a few more of the junior colts who all stepped up and played a full part in the win. Next up for the Colts is another trip down the M5 to play the league fixture against Worcester Colts on Sunday 16th with a Friday fixture for the Colts A side at home to Trentham.

See you all at training
Mark