London Irish Wild Geese 31 Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 36

London Irish Wild Geese vs Bishop's Stortford RFC 1st XV

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The home side came out of the traps at full speed and, having clearly decided that there would be no way through the middle, they swung the ball wide at every opportunity. Their speedy backs played with great purpose and they took advantage of some sloppy first up tackling to score three converted tries within the first 20 minutes of the game. Going through phase after phase of high-speed rugby, they would have tested the best of defences and they scarcely allowed Stortford a touch of the ball. When they did after 9 minutes, the visitors quickly proved the wisdom of Irish's fast and open game, by powering up the middle of the field, kicking a penalty to touch and driving over the resultant maul for a try to Rory Banks, converted by brother, Tom. The flanker had only just come onto the field as a replacement for Steve Ball, who moved to hooker in place of the injured Dec Caulfield. This leveled the scores, but the tidal wave of Irish attacks was immediately resumed, producing tries after 14 and 19 minutes, as Stortford's defence was shredded. Further home pressure forced a number of penalties, which eventually led to a yellow card for Tom McCrone after 28 minutes and, ironically Stortford managed to stem the flow of Irish attacks rather better with 14 men, conceding only 3 points for a further penalty shortly after the sin-binning. Almost as soon as the 10 minutes' penalty had been served, Stortford launched their second attack of any real note and, having gone through many phases of hard, battering rugby, they moved into the Irish 22, from where George Cullen managed to wriggle his way through two tackles to touchdown. Banks' conversion took the score at half time to 24-14 - a scoreline that reflected maximum return for Stortford's limited attacking efforts in the half.

Playing into the wind in the second half, Stortford were clearly determined to pay to their strengths in the forwards, who were now establishing a clear edge at both scrum and lineout. The ball was not going to be easily handed over to the home threequarters and, even when possession was spread wider, great care was taken to retain the ball. This pressure produced a strong territorial advantage and the second of two successive penalties at scrums was duly converted by Banks from under the posts to narrow the deficit to 7 points after 5 minutes. It was Stortford's turn to deprive the opposition of ball and, although the rugby was less flamboyant and less incisive than had been Irish's, it proved to be even more effective. Ground was first made through a well judged crosskick from Cullen to winger, Nick Hankin, who. kicked the ball on into the home 22, where a great chase bottled up the defence and created an immediate turnover. Further pressure led to another penalty for Stortford, which Tom Banks took quickly to force his way through a flat-footed defence for a try, which he converted himself to level the scores once more. The visitors were now right on top and drove home their advantage almost straight from the restart, forcing another defensive penalty, from which they went for touch, set up another driving maul, which took Steve Ball over for the bonus point try. Banks' difficult conversion attempt across the wind went just wide, but he was successful some 7 or 8 minutes later from in front of the posts, after the referee had awarded a penalty try, following a number of further scrummaging offences by the home pack. Many sides would have wilted under the constant second half pressure, but Irish are made of sterner stuff and finally picking up some scraps of possession, threw themselves once more onto the attack through their backs. Helped by a surprising penalty against the Stortford scrum, they moved into the Stortford 22 and, although the initial thrusts near the base of a maul from the resultant lineout were repelled comfortably enough, as soon as the ball was moved away, they managed to slice through for a try under the posts, as flyhalf, Peter Hodgkinson straightened the line and popped a short pass to a back looping outside him, as Stortford's defence drifted in anticipation of a wider move. The conversion took the score to 31-36 and a nervy final few minutes followed for Stortford's many travelling supporters, until an excellent turnover by replacement prop, Seb Brownhill on his own 22 allowed the forwards to see out the last few moments.