Barnstaple 8 Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 45

Barnstable RFC vs Bishop's Stortford RFC 1st XV

With rain pouring down for almost the whole game, this was a game made for the forwards, though it has to be said that the handling of Stortford’s backs for most of the game was very impressive. Nevertheless, it was important to have the right platform and the Stortford eight provided this in spades, with almost total dominance in the scrums and, despite a faltering start, an impressive lineout showing too. It was a couple of dominant scrums, leading to penalties that took the visitors to the Barnstaple 5 metre line after 8 minutes, producing a try to Jimmy Rea at the back of a driving maul from a lineout. A great conversion by Tom Banks from the touchline stretched the lead to 7 points and this was further extended 6 minutes later, when Nick Hankin cut an excellent line in off his wing to take a well-timed pass from Rea, following another dominant Stortford scrum. Banks again added the extras, as he did after 28 minutes of the half, when Steve Ball touched down from the back of another driving maul, after Barnstaples woes at the scrum had been worsened by one of their props being yellow-carded for a high tackle.. Having been restored to 15 men, the home side quickly scored a penalty goal after a couple of quick penalties were conceded by Stortford and then enjoyed a period of good pressure, with both forwards and backs threatening and it took some excellent Stortford defence to hold them out – including holding their centre up after he caught a clever chip from his flyhalf over the line. Defence was turned into attack just before the break and the visitors took full advantage of a reversed penalty for some foul play to kick for the corner and a driving maul from the lineout saw Sean Edwards in for the bonus point try, once more converted by Banks.

Stortford started the second half as they had finished the first and some powerful driving play from the restart sucked in the home defence, before quick ball to the backs allowed Will Simmonds to make a telling half break and feed Ryan Hutler, off the bench for the injured Pier Dotta, for an unconverted try out wide. The game then descended into a period of very scrappy play, as Stortford lost two players to yellow cards in quick succession. The first was against Tom Coleman, who had tugged back a chasing Barnstaple back, as the home side returned a very poor Stortford chip kick out of defence. The second card, to Dan Elsom was effectively a team penalty for a couple of offences in rapid succession at breakdowns and the home team quickly took advantage of their 2 man edge to score a try, following a period of strong pressure by their forwards on the Stortford line. Coleman was barely back on the field, when substitute prop, Tom McCrone incurred the ref’s displeasure for an offence at a breakdown to take his side back to 13 men briefly, before Elsom’s return. Stortford, nevertheless, were now steadily getting back on top, bringing more control back into their teamwork, despite a number of further substitutions. It was, in fact, one of the replacements, Ollie Jones, on for Ball at No 8 that scored the next try with an excellent solo break from the back of a scrum some 12 metres out. The scoring was rounded off 3 minutes later, when Banks sniped from the base of a ruck to slide over for the 7th try, which he converted himself. This was not before, though, skipper, Tom Coleman had added a note of light relief by crumpling into a heap some 10 yards short of the Barnstaple line and with no defender anywhere near, after he had stepped smartly in to take a clean interception, as the home side had threatened to break out of their half. Rumours of a sniper in the stand proved to have been unfounded and, despite an exhaustive search after the game, no trace of a tripwire could be found!