Stoke 39 Vs Stafford 38

What a game of rugby this would turn out to be.

A pleasant day with a brisk breeze running across the pitch greeted Stafford as we visited Stoke. From the kick off the energy was high and after a clean take by Mason, Stafford ran two phases before a big hole allowed Jack (starting at 10) to step through and accelerate away to open up the scoring (0-7 Dylan S conv).
At the restart, Stoke kicked long and Freddie watch the ball go over the line and dabbed it down safely to give Stafford a scrum back on the halfway, despite the good position Stafford were turned over in the breakdown before giving a penalty for offside. Stoke using the breeze kicked to touch and after 3 phases, went open and reduced the deficit. (5-7)
A high hanging restart saw good pressure from the Stafford chasers and the home team were forced into conceeding a penalty. Dylan S saw the opportunity to go quickly and some good hands and a late loop from Morgan put Rich away, the winger brushed aside a tackler and scored well in the corner. (5-12 missed conv)
It was end to end stuff, Stafford dealt with the kickoff, however they would again conceed a penalty, this time for going off their feet, again providing an advantageous position for the home team. Stoke would eventually get over the line, however great defence from Ed A and Jake would hold the ball up and Stafford cleared their line (if only briefly ) from a goal line restart. Stoke covered the kick well and after some good hands saw them score and bring the scores level. (12-12)
Another high hanging restart and a knock on by the home team saw Stafford with good field position, this time a miss pass put Rich A away on the wing only for a last ditch tackle preventing hominem from scoring. The ball was recycled and after a couple of phases, the ball reached Jo on the opposite winger who scored with an acrobatic finish to retake the lead. (12-17)
Stafford were dealing with the kickoffs well but despite this, were conceeding penalties shortly after and were unable to build on the earlier good work, this time despite a good tackle from Tom out wide, Stoke would again level the score (17-17)
Stoke this time would take the lead after some big carries from their 8 and centres , the home team would have a penalty (again from offside) and a quick tap saw them go ahead. (17-22)
Stafford looked to continue to move the ball with Ellis being stopped just short, then Jake, Farai and James all had efforts turned away by the Stoke defence. The next effort from Logan looked to have been turned over, however great work from Harry C at the breakdown maintained possession and after a penalty was awarded, Dylan S , tapped and weaved his way in to retake the lead and close out the first half.(22-24 Dylan S conv)
The second half started with the same tempo and Stoke came out on the attack, only great defence on the line from Jake and Tyler prevented a score. From the scrum, it was expected that Dylan S (now in at 10) would kick and clear, instead he saw some space backed his pace and went coast to coast with a great solo effort. (22-31 Dylan S conv)
Stafford looked to continue the scoring and keep the ball away from Stokes big carriers. After a good turnover they went hands left, recycled set up 3 pods before going right. Freddie joined the line from fullback and popped a lovely ball up to Jo, who beat his man and went in from halfway (22-38 Dylan S conv)
Stafford looked to be tiring slightly and started to conceed penalties and could not clear as Stoke scored quickly 27-38.
At the restart Stafford were awarded a penalty and Dylan kicked long to give Stafford good field position. After a further penalty was awarded in midfield around the 22, a host of options were available, unfortunately the quick tap was snuffed out despite players out wide and Stoke would march up the field and score to narrow the gap to 34-38.
With time ticking away , both teams attacks were being stifled by penalties, some of which were odd at best, but you have to go with what the Ref sees. As Stoke pushed, Stafford would be awarded 2 yellow cards (Farai deliberate knock on ? And Dylan S offside) and the 13 players left put in some big tackles, Freddie as last man made two great tackles to prevent a try, Tyler was busy at the breakdown and Harry W put a tackle in out wide to prevent an overlap going any further.
And so to a strange end to the game, with a scrum being awarded to Stafford 5 out front their own line, the players were led to believe that time was up and managed to clear and thought they had done enough to hold on to the victory, only to be told rather than last play , the Ref said lets play. With 6 mins added on and two players extra Stoke managed to score after 4mins to take the lead (39-38), and with that the contest was over with no time to restart.
It was a tough end for a Stafford team that had given everything, but they should take a lot of positives out of what was a great game of rugby.