A scrappy start led to a suitably scrappy first score after 7 minutes, when a Stortford knock-on at the back of an overthrown Barnes lineout on our 22 fell conveniently into the arms of a Barnes back who dashed through the wrong-footed defence for a converted try close to the posts. Stortord then steadily took control and put together a series of phases of good attacking rugby, rounded off by an unconverted try on 18 minutes to tighthead prop, Sean Edwards, lurking out on the right wing to take a scoring pass from openside, Dan Elsom. The visitors maintained the upper hand and, spurning an easy 3 points after 26 minutes, went for touch. A driving maul from the resultant lineout brought another unconverted try for Rory Banks out wide. Stortford were now well in control and within 10 minutes had extended their lead to 8 points with a third unconverted try. The scorers was again Sean Edwards, who plunged over out wide from the fringe of a driving maul following another 5 meter lineout after Barnes had conceded two penalties in quick succession. The first half ended with Stortford again hammering at the home line and looked like registering the bonus point try in injury time until a Barnes knock-on right on their line was deemed (rather generously, it seemed) to have been accidental, allowing the ref. to blow up for the break.

As the second half began, it was Stortford's turn to show generosity to their hosts, when they failed to deal with the long drop-out, conceding a scrum for a knock-on, compounding this error by almost immediately conceding a penalty in front of the posts, for which Dan Elsom was yellow carded. Barnes made no mistake with the shot at goal to take the score to 10-15. This feat was repeated after 11 minutes of the half, when a Stortford attack was ended with a dubious penalty award against them at a scrum close to the opposing 22, after the Barnes pack, not for the first time had been allowed to drive forward a good metre before the ball went in. The home side took full advantage, though and, having gone for touch, quickly forced a second penalty, which produced the three points and a 13-15 scoreline. Despite previous misadventures at this venue, Stortford always appeared in control and didn't look like making the kind of crucial error, which would have been necessary for the opposition to overturn their lead. The nerves of their many traveling supporters were kept taught, when a relatively easy penalty shot at goal went badly wide after 20 minutes but much of the tension was relieved three minutes later, when the ball was moved quickly down the line, allowing Johnny Neville sight of the try-line and the centre used every inch of his long reach to crash into a twin tackle and stretch through to score. The difficult conversion was again missed, but the bonus point was in the bag. Stortford continued to hold the upper hand for the rest of the game, but came close to scoring again only once, when the Barnes defence had been stretched to breaking point by some good handling, culminating in a deft Tom Coleman chip kick into space, only for play to be stopped in mid-move for a fracas well off the ball. The outcome, after consultation with one of the assistant referees, was yellow cards for Jimmy Rea and Matt Chambers (recently off the bench against his old club) and a penalty to Barnes, presumably for retaliation.The rest of the game was seen out reasonably comfortably, but Stortford will be looking to find at least one more of the further gears we know they possess for next week's home encounter against Bury St Edmunds.