Redingensians Rams 24 Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 25

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The first ten minutes of the game were predictably dominated by two strong defences, but saw Stortford steadily gaining the upper hand in terms of possession and territory. This culminated in a penalty to the visitors for a breakdown offence, which Tom Banks converted for a 3 point lead. The next 20 minutes saw Stortford dominate both possession and territory but their efforts to add to their score were repeatedly frustrated - often after several phases of driving rugby - by individual mistakes, combined with the continuing strength of the Redingensians' defence. Eventually, though, after a series of strong forward drives in the home 22, sufficient of the defence was sucked in to allow quick hands down the backline to produce an overlap, which Will Simonds and Ryan Hutler were able to exploit to allow the latter to score an unconverted try out wide. Another 5 points were added 8 minutes later as Hutler this time played provider for Simmonds, who touched down in an almost identical spot, after his winger had made a great dash down the outside to find the fullback totally unmarked with a great inside pass. From the restart, pressure on Stortford's clearing kick gave the Rams a lineout on the visitors' 22 - the nearest they had come in the whole game to the opposition tryline - and they proved to be much more clinical than Stortford in building pressure and some powerful drives from their forwards eventually allowed them to set one of thir big backrow forwards running from close quarters down a short blindside, where a valiant tackle by Jimmy Rea just failed to prevent the ball being grounded. A top quality conversion from the touchline finished the half to send the home side in only 6 points behind, when, on the balance of play the deficit might well have been more than 20.

To have scored at such a key moment, obviously lifted the home side and they came out all guns blazing in the second period. Admittedly aided by two Stortford errors at lineouts, they quickly found themselves in the opposition 22, where it took some huge tackling to keep the line intact. Unlike good hosts, though, they failed to return Stortford's first half generosity in squandering such opportunities and eventually, after 11 minutes a 5 metre scrum saw No 8. Robbie Stapley burst off the base, stand up in the tackle and feed a deft back-handed pass inside to his flyhalf, who touched down under the posts. The easy conversion took the home side into a 1 point lead, but this was extremely short-lived, as a tremendous turnover in midfield by Jack Scantlebury allowed Hutler again to benefit from quick handling down the backline to score a try on 13 minutes from another Simmonds pass. Banks this time capped the 5 points with a tremendous conversion from the touchline. This seemed to rock the home side, but a yellow card 6 minutes later against Mark McCraith for foul play at a ruck, set up by Stortford provided another turning point, as Redingensians went straight down the field from the resultant penalty and, although the score went to their winger, it was. almost inevitably set up once again by their big forwards. Another excellent touchline conversion restored their one point lead. Stortford were straight back onto the offensive, but were now finding ground much harder to make, repeatedly hitting against the brick wall, which the Rams' midfield tackling had become. Under this pressure the ball was eventually turned over and, when one of many second half kicks from Redingensians was returned poorly, falling in midfield well short of halfway, the home side seized on the opportunity to drive into the Stortford 22, where they forced a penalty at a breakdown on 36 minutes. With time running out, the conversion looked as if it might have sealed a battling home victory, but Stortford now showed their true mettle in fighting straight back from the restart.
When a scrum was won, caution was thrown to the wind and quick ball along the line to the right wing found man of the match, Hutler, with the cover defence closing rapidly on him. Showing fantastic composure, well beyond his years, he waited until the last minute, before putting a testing rolling kick in behind from some 10 metres out and, with Simmonds contesting the initial chase to defeat the Rams' last man, it was left to Nick Hankin to swoop on the loose ball for the bonus point try and a one point lead. Banks' conversion attempt flew just wide, but it didn't matter, since there was no time for a restart and the referee immediately blew the final whistle.

To say this was a pulsating match would be a huge understatement, but ultimately, the visitors had just enough of an attacking edge to have deserved to squeak a win against Redingensians' remorseless defence.