Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 38 Exmouth 7
Stortford patience pays off and eventually produces clear win against a determined Exmouth team, that made life difficult for 45 minutes.
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Murky and damp conditions seemed to set the early tone, as both sides struggled to retain possession for any length of time. Stortford tended to have the edge, though and this finally told after 13 minutes, when Matt Tomlinson forced his way over for a try after a powerful Mark McCraith drive from a 5 metre lineout had been stopped just short. Tom Banks converted, as he did again 10 minutes later, after a brilliant individual try from Nick Hankin. The winger had ruthlessly exploited a mismatch against an Exmouth forward to breach the first line of defence, but still had to fend off a covering back, before stepping his way through the last two defenders to touch down under the posts. The game then became scrappy again, with mistakes from both sides preventing any serious scoring threats, as both sides contested the breakdowns strongly, when not in possession. The visitors refused to give up and took full advantage of a poor defensive kick to advance into the Stortford 22 after half an hour had gone and some good ball retention through multiple phases through their big forwards allowed them to exert real pressure on the home line. This culminated in a strong Exmouth scrum underneath the posts, from which No 8. Mike Richards powered his way over for a converted try. Stortford were unable to counter before halftime, leaving the score at the break a far from comfortable 14-7.
As conditions worsened in the second half, with the rain now falling steadily, Stortford somehow managed to cut down their error rate and solid defence forced a number of mistakes from the visitors, which were exploited ruthlessly to transform the game. Six minutes in and in-form winger, Ryan Hutler burst onto a poor Exmouth kick from defence and almost instantly chipped over the chasers to catch the whole defence flat-footed and a kind bounce allowed him to regather in a trice and beat the cover to touch down in the corner. Banks was unable to convert, but was on target 10 minutes later, when Hutler scored his second try after fly-hacking ahead from close to halfway a loose ball in Exmouth's midfield and picking up to go in under the posts and register the bonus point for his team. The battling visitors now seemed to start to wilt under the 19 point deficit and the next try took only 5 minutes to come, as Stortford put together the best spell of rugby of the game, going through many phases in the difficult conditions to set Sam Winter clear under the posts. The centre was clearly relishing his first game for 8 weeks and made a tremendous outside break after 72 minutes to commit the last defender and put Will Simmonds in for an unconverted try out wide. Despite one great burst from replacement scrumhalf, Sam Colemen from a turnover inside his own 22, which was thwarted only by a cover tackle right on the Exmouth line, the visitors managed to hold out until the final whistle for a final scoreline of 38-7.
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