Staines 10 Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 17

The first half saw both sides trying to prise holes in the other's defence through some expansivce rugby, with Stortford, generally just having a slight edge. With both centres running hard and straight, some shrewd tactical kicking by Tom Coleman and the whole pack competing well against another strong set of forwards, the visitors seemed to have found the confidence which had proved elusive in recent games. It nevertheless took more than 40 minutes for the first score to come, but it proved to be well worth waiting for. Skipper, Mark McCraith first made an excellent break down the left and, with quickly recycled ball, right wing, Harry Marner popped up in midfield to dummy to the support outside him and burst through to touch down under the posts. Coleman converted for a 0-7 half time lead.

Stortford started the second half, as they ended the first and looked pretty comfortable pressing Staines back into their own half, dealing easily with a number of speculative kicks out of defence by the home side. After five minutes, one such kick was run back hard up the middle and a penalty was forced for an infringement at the breakdown. Coleman took the easy three points from in front of the posts to stretch the lead to 10 points. A momentary lapse of concentration in midfield, five minutes later, however, was to cost the visitors dear, as they allowed Staines' outside centre to burst through almost unimpeded and it took a good cover tackle from Jimmy Rae to save a try. A five metre lineout was conceded, though and this, in turn led to a 5 metre scrum, from which the home No 8 broke hard, burst through an attempted backrow tackle and dived over for a try close to the posts. Amazingly, the home side's top scoring flyhalf fluffed the conversion attempt to leave Stortford with a 5 point lead. This was to last only 3 minutes, however, when a second unconverted home try was registered by their giant second row, who showed a remarkable turn of speed to round the first attempted tackle and ran through two more in the course of a 60 yard run to the line. It would have been easy for Stortford's fragile confidence to have flagged after such a disappointing turnround in the score, but it took only another three minutes for the visitors to register what turned out to be the winning score. A great break up the middle by 12, Marcus Cattell, totally split the home defence and flanker Tom Stokely was on hand to take the scoring pass, after Cattel drew the stranded Staines fullback. Coleman converted to stretch the lead to 7 points. Five minutes later and 13, Ben de Grandis in turn burst through the first line of defence but, on this occasion, the home cover was better placed and the young centre was prevented from finding Richard Gill's supporting run. Stortford looked reasonably comfortable for the next 10 minutes or so, despite being only one maximum score ahead, but the last five minutes were to provide the sternest possible test of their resolve, when two successive penalties to the home side moved them from their own half well into the visitors' 22. The strong Staines pack clearly fancied their chances of forcing their way over the try line, particularly when, with 4 minutes still to go, Stortford's anchorman at No 8, Damian Sangster was yellow carded for an offence at the breakdown. There ensued a period of colossal 14-man defence by the visitors, with the pack to the fore, but huge pressure also being applied by the backs on the odd accasion that the Staines side sought to spread the ball. The relief was palpable when the home side finally managed to cross the line, but the ball was held up and there was insufficient time for the resultant 5 metre scrum to be set before the final whistle.

It was good to see the Stortford backs, once again running with confidence and commitment and the part played in this resurgence by young Ben de Grandis' stirring return from a prolonged absence due to injury was significant. The resilient performance by the pack who, once again came under considerable pressure in the tight scrums - even managing to take one against the head! - was also a major improvement on recent weeks and provided the kind of platform that allowed their backs to establish some rhythm and put structure on their game.