Civil Service 35 Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 39

With the injury list growing ever longer, Stortford's threequarters line contained 3 teenagers and yet it was the incisiveness in this area, which enabled the visitors to squeeze home in a real nail-biter.

Starting with the strong breeze behind them, Stortford were looking to make an early impact, but could hardly get their hands on the ball in the first 8 minutes, which culminated in a converted try to the home side, when a lapse in cover defence gave the Civil Service right wing a clear run in. His flyhalf converted well from the touchline. The lead lasted little more than a minute, however, when the ball was spilled by Civil Service after winning the ball from the dropout and Mark McCraith burst through midfield to feed centre, Jack Knowles who dummied an outside pass before plunging over for a try, which Tom Coleman converted. The home side again monopolised possession for the next few minutes, but it was Stortford who scored next, when winger, Phil Williams made a lot of ground around the outside of the home defence and, although a Civil Service defender was able to bat down his inside pass, Coleman, following up was able to dive on the loose ball for a try. A further six minutes saw Stortford register their 3rd try with Jimmy Rae weaving his way over from some 30 metres out after Knowles set up a ruck in midfield. Coleman converted to take the score to 7-19. Even this margin looked far from comfortable with the prospect of a second half playing into the wind and prospects looked considerably less good when, with only a couple of minutes to go to half time, Civil Service were presented with an opportunity through a bungled pass on the Stortford 22 and the home 7 seized on the ball to touch down under the posts. Stortford were undaunted, though and, having recovered the ball from the restart, swept back into the Civil Service half, where a superb dummy and break by Coleman set up scrumhalf, Aaron Mahoney to run around for a try behind the posts. Coleman's conversion restored the 12 point margin at half time.

This fairly tenuous lead was quickly extended, however, with Stortford registering further tries after 2 and 4 minutes of the second half. The first came through a great solo break down the narrow blindside of a ruck 15 metres from the Civil Service line, after good handling by Mahoney, Coleman and Ben de Grandis had created the position. The second score brought Rae's hat trick, when he rounded off perhaps the best single move of the game, with good ball off the top of a lineout on the right, swiftly moved through the hands to create the chance for the fullback to dummy and step inside the covering winger. Coleman, unusually, was unable to convert either try, and the resultant 22 point lead soon began to dwindle, as the home side started to use the wind to gain ground through good kicking from their Kiwi flyhalf, backed up by forceful play from their forwards. The first result of this pressure was a home try within 3 minutes, when poor defence allowed the home fly half to burst through under the posts for a converted try. Some dogged tackling was then called for and it was 10 minutes before Civil Service scored again when one of their back row was allowed all the time in the world to collect and touch down a high ricochet after a blindside break by their scrumhalf from a 5 metre scrum. A great conversion followed to put the visitors under even more pressure and this time resistance proved less than stout when two badly missed tackles brought another Civil Service try again wide out on the right. Another excellent conversion brought the lead down to a decidedly precarious single point. Some modest relief came when a penalty for obstruction after the drop out allowed Coleman to kick a good penalty. Shorn of their main lineout jumper by the first half substitution of skipper, McCraith (hamstring), though, Stortford now came under even more intense pressure, as they failed to win a series of their own throw-ins, which allowed Civil Service to camp in our 22.It was, in fact, thanks only to a gaff by a home forward who managed to drop the ball over the line as he dived unopposed for an almost certainly winning try, that the Stortford lead was preserved. The young Stortford side then really showed its fighting spirit as they weathered a number of 5 metre scrums and a whole series of rucks and mauls on their own line, with some ferocious tackling, notably by the pack. The hard-earned victory was sealed when, almost miraculously, the hard-pressed Stortford forwards took a 5 metre scrum against the head to fight their way out to the 22, where the final whistle went.

All in all, a tremendously spirited performance by a very young side, punctuated by some excellent passages of back play, which will give pause for thought to the hordes of senior players on the touchline battling to recover their fitness – then their places!