Stafford Colts visited local rivals Newport for a post Christmas friendly fixture in preparation for the resumption of league and cup fixtures in the coming weeks.

Both teams started the match strongly with neither side being able to get the upper hand. Stafford forwards battled hard at the breakdown and the backs defended well against a very dangerous Newport back line. After 11 minutes Newport broke the deadlock when their forwards forced themselves over from close range. Then from the resulting restart Stafford failed to compete for the ball and the Newport backs broke free to score a second try wide on the right. Following the next restart Stafford challenged for the ball but the dangerous Newport center gathered the loose ball and broke through in midfield and managed to score in far left hand corner despite some desperate tackling from full back Oliver Croft. So in 6 minutes Stafford had gone from being well in the game to being 17- 0 down. Things got worse for Stafford as influential forward Joben Corcoran was forced to leave the field with a hand injury and was replaced by Harry Woolman. After the shock of conceding 3 quick tries Stafford re-gathered themselves and marched Newport back to their own line. A succession of penalties conceded by Newport on the 5m line eventually saw the referee award Stafford a penalty try. With time running out in the half a mix-up in center field gifted Newport good field position and their forwards were able to score close to the Stafford posts. First half finished with Newport leading 24 – 7

Stafford had let Newport have a number of tries in the first half through some sloppy play and not getting off the line in defense. With words of wisdom ringing in their ears the second half got underway and the Stafford side started to play with more energy and Newport were struggling to get their dangerous backs running. After 13 minutes of the second half Newport conceded a penalty and Stafford kicked for the corner. From the resulting lineout DJ Clements was able to score the try and Seb Conaghan added the conversion. Newport hit back with a try of their own when their backs broke down the Stafford blind side on half way and caught the defense on the wrong foot. It was a better 2nd half from Stafford which they won 5 – 7 however the devastating quick 3 tries Newport scored in the first half had won the match and the final score was 29 – 14 to Newport.

Newport are a good side and the Stafford Colts were not fully up to speed following the 2 week Christmas break and not having played a match since the 9th December following numerous cancellations. With league fixtures resuming next week with the re-arranged away match against Droitwich the team needs to get back to where they were in November quickly. Stafford were unable to get their backs going in this game due to the pressure that the Newport forwards put on the half backs but its something that we need to work on in training this week. Some notable performances came from Oliver Croft at full back who hand an excellent game defensively and save several Newport scores and Harry Woolman who had a very strong game coming off the bench to play in an unfamiliar role of wing forward rather than his usual position of hooker.

Let’s put the effort into training this week, get as many down as possible and prepare well for the game against Droitwich.

Mark