The Lane held host to Stafford vs Leek on a dreary wet morning. Another massive turn out meant Stafford could field two separate teams with redemption on their minds for last weeks performance.
The coaches had emphasised the importance of working hard and the rest will follow. The instructions seemed to be heard as in the first quarter Stafford dominated the rucks and scrums with created spaces for the centres to cause chaos, scoring the 3 tries this quarter with some direct running. The score should have been 3-0 but some poor defending allowed Leek to pinch 2 tries in response.
The second quarter seemed a bit more even. Leeks players were already warmed up and Stafford’s second 12 started slowly conceding a couple of tries, but as the quarter went on Stafford grew into the game and started winning more rucks and generally defending better. They managed to get back into the quarter with two tries from the centres again, made possible by hard work from the team. Stafford then pinched the quarter when they turned over the scrum and some nice phases found the second row with ball in hand 5 yards out, joined by his front row team mate who powered him over the line. Another 3-2 quarter win.
After HT the game seemed to even out. Leek were using their size advantage more and gaining some success but it was being countered by Stafford better ball speed and stronger runners. Again one of Stafford centres managed to score an impressive try as well as Staffords prop smashing through 2/3 Leeks backs to score but some resilience from Leek ended to 3rd quarter 2-2.
Final quarter was underway. Some tired and banged up players were ready to give it all until the end. Both teams making mistakes as the conditions got worse and lots of breaks in play saw the game become very scrappy. Both teams seem to cancel each other out with lots of gaps opening up. Stafford centres scoring a couple more tries and Stafford’s fly half taking his chance through a gap to be tackled just short of line only to have enough stretch in his arm to get the ball over the line. Leek fought hard until the end and scored 3 tries themselves, ending this one 3-3

Final score 11-9 Stafford

Overall a much better team performance. Some basic errors in defending made the scores closer than it should have been but some very good performances today