From the kick off the ball failed to go the required 10 meters but Birmingham played the ball got round the corner and kicked into the Stafford backfield. The Stafford back 3 failed to deal with the bouncing ball and the Birmingham center gathered the ball and ran in under the posts to score after only 1 minute on the clock. Birmingham then nearly scored again when another speculative kick was not dealt with by the Stafford defence but the Birmingham back knocked the ball on 2 meters from the Stafford line. After the terrible start to the game Stafford started to re-gather their composure and the forwards started to take control of the game. Some strong carries in midfield saw Birmingham concede penalties and from the resulting 5 meter lineout Colton McLaughlin scored from the back of the driving maul. From a second driving maul 10 minutes later it looked as though Charlie Kirby had added to the Stafford score only to loose the ball in the act of scoring.

The game was now very evenly matched with the Stafford forwards working hard at the breakdown causing numerous turnovers and the backs defending very well against a strong running Birmingham back line. Stafford were on top and the visitors were starting to struggle to get into attacking positions. Then after 33 minutes and after several attempts by the Stafford forwards to score close to the Birmingham try line. The ball was passed back to no.10 Seb Conaghan who spotted that the Birmingham backs were very narrow and he put in a kick pass to winger Henry Perks who caught the ball and dived over in the corner for a special score. The very difficult conversion from wide out on the left was excellently added by Seb much to the delight of the crowd in the stand behind him. First half finished with Stafford leading 12 – 7

The weather improved in the second half but the match was evenly balanced. The majority of the play was concentrated in the middle of the pitch with neither side being able to get on top. Birmingham nearly scored a try with 10 minutes to go but were held up over the line by No.8 Charlie Kirby and his forwards. Stafford also threatened to add to their score but were inaccurate close to the Birmingham line and there was no more scores in the second half. Final score being a win for Stafford Colts 12 – 7

It was a very tight but exciting game against a very good Birmingham Moseley side who found themselves in an arm wrestle with a very determined and dynamic Stafford pack. There was some excellent performances from the Stafford forwards, Ollie Downie was dominant in the lineout all game, Gurman Seehra and Dan Cleaver made lots of dominant carries and the backrow of Joben Corcoran, Hugo Sutton and Charlie Kirby were a menace at the breakdown all game. Plus Archie Bent and Seb Conaghan controlled the game from 9 and 10. All in all it was a very good league win for Stafford and sets up a top of the table clash next weekend against the league leader and unbeaten Sutton Coldfield.

So some things to work on in training boys especially the penalty move !! Well done and we will see you in the week ahead.
Mark