The first league game of the 2022 – 2023 season saw Stafford Colts travel to Bromsgrove. A minute silence was held before the game to commemorate the death of queen Elizabeth II

Stafford got off to a fast start and opened the scoring from a 5 meter lineout after only 3 minutes with Charlie Kirby touching down. After the shock of going down so early Bromsgrove started to grow into the game as the Stafford side gave away territorial advantage with a succession of penalties and knock-ons. Bromsgrove capitalized on Stafford’s lack of composure and scored two converted tries under the posts. It was quite an even first half and Stafford managed to close the gap on the scoreboard after a backs move saw Ollie Croft break through the Bromsgrove defense to score a try under the posts which was converted by Seb Conaghan. First half finished with a score line 14 – 12 to the home side.

After a talking to at half time the Stafford side again started the very brightly and scored an early try after a succession of carries and offloads by the forwards eventually resulted in replacement scrum half Sam Edwards picking the ball up from a ruck 2 meters out and diving over. The Stafford side continued to dominate and the strong running center Fin Osmat eventually burst through the Bromsgrove defense to score close to the posts, Seb Conaghan again adding the conversion. Then with Stafford again threatening to score close to the Bromsgrove line a loose ball saw the Bromsgrove full back dash the full length of the pitch and a desperate last gasp tackle from Ollie Croft was deemed to be high by the referee who awarded a penalty try and showed Ollie a yellow card. It was a tense period of the game and tempers between the two sides started to fray but after Stafford were restored to full strength they extended their lead when Fin Osmat scored his second try with a powerful run down the blind side from a scrum and just managing to get the ball down on the line. With time in the red Bromsgrove were determined to at least get some bonus points and a succession of penalties saw numerous kicks to the corner, quick tap penalties and two further yellow cards for Stafford but some determined defense from the away side kept the home side out and the game finished 21 – 29 to Stafford Colts.

It was a game Stafford Colts made hard work of but to start the league campaign with a bonus point win against a good Bromsgrove side was a pleasing result. The Colts were a bit rusty despite the number of pre-season games and made numerous handling errors and rushed some of their structured play however, there were some promising signs that this years Colts will be a force to be reckoned with some notable performances from the likes of Dan Cleaver, Finley Evans, Charlie Kirby and Colton McLaughlan in the forwards and Fin Osman, Ollie Croft and Henry Perks in the backs.

Next Colts game is a league fixture away at Walsall on Sunday 18th September

Well done guys, a good start to the league campaign, keep coming to training and pushing for places in the side.
Mark