Stortford seemed to have settled their early nerves when, after 15 minutes, Will Roberts crashed over for an opening try after a series of 5 metre lineouts and Tom Banks added the extras. Within 3 minutes, though the lead was reduced to 2 points, when Rams' hooker, Ben Henderson rounded off a move started by a clever chip kick from his flyhalf, Jacob Atkins to score an unconverted try. Worse was to come for Stortford, as, after 6 minutes Atkins himself scored a second try, following up on his own grubber kick, to which he then added the conversion to take his side out to a 5 point lead. With 30 minutes on the clock, though a cynical offence by Henderson, coming in to the side of a ruck within feet of his own line to kill the ball saw him sin-binned. Matt Tomlinson was stopped just short after breaking from the back of a driving maul from the resultant 5 metre lineout, but a scrum was awarded to the home side and No 8, Steve Ball was able to touch down, as his eight drove over the line. Banks' conversion attempt bounced out off an upright, but he made no mistake 6 minutes later, after Nick Hankin scored a brilliant individual try. The centre had just enough pace to make an initial outside break stick around the halfway line, eluding his opposite number's clutches by centimetres, but there was no doubt about the way that he finished, leaving the cover defenders clutching at air. With first half time running out, a yellow card to the visitors' 13 in midfield put Stortford on the front foot again and some clinical rugby, rounded off with a perfectly timed pass from Sam Winter to Jimmy Rea gave the winger just enough room to scoot over out wide and make several yards towards the post before touching down to give Banks a relatively easy conversion. This took the home side out to a 26-12 halftime lead.

Any thoughts that the visitors might have been cowed by this scoreline were quickly dismissed, as they launched themselves immediately onto the attack after the restart and were rewarded after 4 minutes with a second try for Henderson, who took full advantage of some clever shepherding by a teammate at the back of a 5 metre lineout to dive over for a try, converted by Atkins. Scenting the possibility of a notable victory, the Rams threw themselves back onto the front foot and it took a tremendous cover tackle from Ryan Hutler to stop his opposite number on the Stortford 22. An attempted offload out of this tackle fell into the welcoming hands of Hankin, whose new, dayglow boots took him clear of the covering defenders to register his second try out by the corner flag. Banks hit a tremendous conversion to restore his side's 14 point lead, but this merely served to provoke an even more vigorous counter-assault from the visitors.and it took some tremendous defence from the home side to keep their line intact for the next 15 minutes. Eventually, though a number of 5 metre scrums ensued, producing a couple of penalties for the Rams. Stortford held firm, though and felt themselves unlucky, when the last of the sequence appeared to have gone Stortford's way but without any reward. The visitors took full advantage to go through several phases from yet another scrum, finally working enough room for winger, Connor Corrigan to dive over for a try out wide, which was extremely well converted by Atkins. Redingensians were now on the rampage and, with Stortford unable to make anything of their few scraps of possession, it was no surprise, when scrumhalf, Greg Illingworth went over under the posts after a tremendous break by fullback, Olly Foxley from a deep pass behind his centres off first phase possession had left the home defence floundering for once. The formality of a conversion leveled the scores and it looked as if Stortford were going to have to settle for 3 league points from a draw. Showing characteristic resilience, though, they threw themselves into one final attack and Hankin's quick feet once again bamboozled the Ram's midfield defence, allowing the centre to break through. As the cover defence closed in, he put in a flat cross-kick, which was collected by a defender but, under severe pressure, he had to concede a penalty for holding on in the tackle. With time virtually up, Tom Banks stepped up to take the shot at goal from some thirty metres out and some 10 metres from touch. Not for the first time this season, the scrumhalf held his nerve and smashed the kick between the uprights to seal a win, with no time left for a restart.

Thanks once again to Belcom, whose Man of the Match award went to Mr shiny boots, Nick Hankin for his all-round performance, stepping into the centre due to Johnny Neville's injury, crowned by those two crucial pieces of individual brilliance.

The nail-biting finish on a gloriously sunny day sent a huge crowd of home supporters - including hundreds attending our annual Ladies' Day charity event - home with smiles on their faces, but not before putting an even bigger smile on the face of our Treasurer by consuming copious amounts of alcohol! To add extra lustre to the day our Thirds and Fourths both won cup semi-finals and our Fifths reportedly performed well in defeat to a ringer-laden opposition. COYB!