Stafford Colts welcomed Bromsgrove colts to the county ground for the first time for their North Midlands Colts Division 2 league fixture.

Stafford were on the front foot right from the start with the forwards carrying strongly and the centers running hard lines. Several times in the first 10 minutes of the match Stafford got inside the Bromsgrove 22 but were penalised for holding-on on the floor as the ball carriers were getting isolated behind the Bromsgrove defensive line. However, eventually after 11 minutes the pressure told and the forwards scored a lovely worked try in the left hand corner through Hugo Sutton, Henry Perks added the superb conversion form wide on the left hand touchline. Straight from the re-start Dan Cleaver caught the ball and rampaged the full length of the pitch eventually being brought down 10 meters from the Bromsgrove line, Stafford recycled the ball, passed the ball into midfield and popped the ball to Ollie Croft for a walk-in try under the posts. That second score seemed to knock the fight out of Bromsgrove and they never got back into the game. Stafford scored 3 more tries in the final 15 minutes of the half. On 21 minutes Charlie Kirby scored from a driving maul after a lineout 10 meters from the Bromsgrove line. On 24 Minutes Dan Cleaver got the score his first half performance deserved when the excellent Hugo Sutton offloaded the ball in a tackle under the Bromsgrove posts for Dan to dot down unopposed. First half scoring was completed when Seb Conaghan scooped up a loose ball in the Bromsgrove half and unselfishly passed the ball to Archie Bent supporting on his shoulder who scooted in to score unopposed in the left hand corner. Henry Perks had converted 3 of the 5 first half tries which left the score at half time 31 – 0 to Stafford.

Stafford substitutions were made in the second half but the changes in personnel did not affect the flow of Stafford tries and Bromsgrove looked like a broken team. Straight from the kick off Stafford got to within 5 meters of the Bromsgrove line and from a quick ruck Archie Bent popped the ball to Finley Evans who dived over to score unopposed, much to his surprise. After 5 minutes of the second half Gurman Seehra rampaged into the Bromsgrove 22, carrying would be Bromsgrove tackles with him only to be brought down just short of the line but Charlie Kirby was on-hand, as ever, to pick up the ball at the back of the ruck and dive over for his second try of the match. The third Stafford try of the half was scored by Daniel Clements after 9 minutes, when he dove over from another ruck close to the Bromsgrove line. With the score now over 50 in favour of Stafford the referee consulted both coaches as to how they wished to proceed and the Bromsgrove coach was happy to continue. Stafford’s ninth try was scored by winger Eddie Unwin who forced his was over in the left hand corner following some intelligent kicking into the deserted Bromsgrove backfield. Bromsgrove did score a try of their own in the 20th minute when Stafford failed to clear a speculative kick into the home sides backfield and a turnover at the breakdown saw the visitors score in the left hand corner. Scoring was completed when after 26 minutes, Seb Conaghan chipped over the Bromsgrove defence in midfield, gathered his own kick and raced over to score under the post chased by Stafford’s Aiden Barker who was now playing for the opposition due to injuries to the away side. The referee then ended the game early. Henry Perks had converted 3 of the second half tries and Stafford won the match with a score line of 62 – 5.

It was an outstanding performance from Stafford Colts against a Bromsgrove side that had given them a difficult game earlier on in the season but who looked out of sorts having not played a match since November. The whole team were excellent but there were some stand out performances from forwards Hugo Sutton, Dan Cleaver, Colton McLaughlin, Daniel Clements and backs Ollie Croft, Archie Bent and Henry Perks. The prolific try scorer Charlie Kirby scored another two tries which took his tally for the season up to 19 which for a No.8 is quite something.

Well played lads, great win off the back of a disappointing result last week. Keep working hard in training and let’s see if we can get more results like this one in the second half of the season.
Mark