Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 20 Gravesend 16

Today's freezing conditions undoubtedly created handling difficulties, which were a major factor in what turned out to be a pretty scrappy game, with both sides regularly squandering good possession.

It didn't look early on, as if this was going to be the case, as Stortford exerted pressure in the first five minutes, culminating in a good try by No 6, Arran Springham. Running a free kick set up by Hamish Irving just inside the visitors' half, a miss pass by Tom Coleman created space out wide for Jimmy Rae, which he exploited well, by stepping inside and finding the support on his right shoulder, which Stokely and Springham carried on for the touch down. Coleman, unfortunately having an off-day with the boot, missed the conversion. Fortunately, Gravesend's fullback, Dave Dorton – otherwise impressive – was at less than his best with the boot, as he proceeded to miss 2 eminently kickable penalties in the next 7 minutes. Coleman did manage to conjure up two good opportunities for his backs via well-judged chip kicks, which each stood on end for Stortford's centres in turn to gather but instantly squander through careless passes. Having missed two penalties of his own in the meantime, Coleman finally hit the target in the dying minutes of the first half, when Gravesend were penalised for offside, following a rare burst of concerted rugby from the home team.

Stortford's 8-0 halftime lead lasted only three minutes after the break, when Gravesend exploited a poor defensive kick by Stortford – albeit by virtue of a very luck right-angled bounce from their return kick – to run through a number of phases along the home 22 and eventually forced a relatively easy penalty, which Dorton converted. The fullback doubled his and Gravesend's tally 15 minutes into the half when Stortford, now under severe pressure in the set scrums turned over possession from their own put in on their 22 and were forced to concede a penalty for offside, after the visitors had swung play back and forth across the pitch. Stortford's woes were significantly increased some 6 minutes later, when Hamish Irving was yellow-carded for his second off-the-ball offence in short order. Within 3 minutes, Gravesend had taken the lead, when Stortford managed, despite the one man disadvantage, to win a defensive scrum, but proceeded to concede a penalty for not releasing the ball at a subsequent tackle and Dorton, once again kicked the three points. Befpre Irving regained the field, however, Stortford remarkably managed to register two tries – both to debutant winger, Simon Wasley, who had come on as a halftime replacement for injured Harry Marner. The first try was well worked after a telling miss pass in midfield from left winger, Ashley Boyle set fullback, Jimmy Rae free out wide and he, as in the first half, used the opportunity to good effect, this time needing only to draw the last defender and send Wasley speeding round behind the posts. Coleman converted. The second try came only 2 minutes later and this time all the help that the young winger needed came from the opposition, when they botched a move in midfield and he was able to pounce on the ball and use his considerable pace to outstrip all efforts to catch him, as he ran in from some 70 metres out. With only 10 minutes to go, Irving returned from the bin and it looked as if the home side would be able to nurse their 11 point lead home, but Gravesend refused to give in and ploughed their way into the Stortford 22 with some good close support play – particularly by their hardworking forwards. Eventually, they forced a 5 metre scrum and were finally able to take telling advantage of their superiority in the front five to register a pushover try, which Dorton was able to convert with only a couple of minutes left to play. Stortford safely saw out the remaining time to run out 20-16 winners.

Congratulations to the whole squad and its management on another tight victory and on the great success of their Charity Race Night! Returning, finally to the game, however, it remains only to name the Mercedes Man of the Match. Jimmy Rae's coolness in exploiting so well the two try-scoring chances, which Stortford managed to create came close to securing the award, but in the event the coaches decided that it should go to young flanker, Aaron Springham for his non-stop work in attack and defence and particularly some very sturdy tackling.