Stafford u14's traveled to local rivals Rugley on Sunday for the final away fixture of the season hoping to continue their fine run of form and so it proved.

Unlike previous weeks Stafford got off to a quick start and scored an early try as Josh Williams caught a Rugley clearance kick on the half way line and weaved his way to the try line to score under the posts. Stafford continued to dominate the game early on and forced a turnover at the breakdown, the ball was passed down the line to Jack Tailor-Holiday who burst through some weak Rugley tackling to score under the posts. After that quickfire start Stafford took their foot off the gas a little and Rugley started to come back into the game helped by some poor handling from Stafford. After a few fumbles and knockons close to the Rugley line Dylan Wilde was able to squeeze over in the corner to complete the scoring in the first half. With Billy Jones converting all 3 first half tries Stafford ended the half leading 0-21.

The second half saw the referee decide to go to uncontested scrums because of the inexperience of the Rugley front row and the dominance of the Stafford pack at the scrummage. Stafford were still able to dominate the ruck area however and after another turnover in midfield the ball was spun down the line, which makes a nice change, to George Stevenson on the wing to score in the corner. Another flowing move saw the ball go through several pairs of hand only for the final pass to be dropped with the try line completely open, yes Eddie Unwin it was noted (lol). Rugley finally got on the score board when some weak midfield tackling let one of the stronger Rugley runners score under the Stafford posts. The rucks became more competitive in the 2nd half thanks to Rugley lending two strong Stafford players in Finley Evans and Dan Poultney who were not going to let their Stafford teams mates have it all their own way. However, as the game drew to a close and Rugley started to tire Dan Cleaver was able to burst over the line from close range. The final score of the game and Jack Tailor-Holidays 2nd came on the stroke of full time again with a short range score in the left hand corner. Billy Jones had his kicking boots on all game and was able to add some fantastic conversions leaving the final score 7-40 for Stafford.

This was a good game for the Stafford lads but one where they could have done so much better if they had had a little more composure with ball in hand and been a bit more clear of thought when attacking. That said it was a very comprehensive win and was a marker of how far the boys have come this season as they were a little disappointed with their performance despite the win.

Well done boys, enjoy the Easter weekend and come back raring to go for the last game of the season in two weeks time.

Mark