Stortford started strongly and took full advantage of a series of early knock-ons by the visitors, whenever they looked remotely threatening. Thus it was, after 8 minutes that a strong breakout from a Stortford defensive scrum by Dan Leo, found James Lennon and George Cullen in close support to give winger, Chris Smith a clear view of the line, which he seized on for a try, well-converted by George Cullen. The flyhalf extended the lead to 10 points after 15 minutes, when further attacking pressure from Stortford forced a penalty for a high tackle - an instinctive reaction form a defender wrong-footed by Matt Riddington. With 18 minutes gone, Nick Hankin added a further try, stepping his way past the cover defence, after good interplay between Cullen and Riddington off one of several stolen Ionians' lineouts. Cullen added the conversion to take his side out to a 17 point lead, but that was, unfortunately, as good as it was going to get. As Stortford's own handling error count rose, the visitors gained confidence and showed that their backs too could be threatening. The resultant pressure produced a penalty under Stortford's posts and scrumhalf, Isaac Green kicked the goal on 26 minutes. The home side attacked again in force, but Ionians showed their determination in defending their line and Stortford had to settle for another Cullen penalty for a breakdown offence three minutes later. Undoubtedly lifted by Stortford's own growing error rate, Ionians launched a series of attacks and eventually were able to exploit a momentary lack of attention by the home defence close to the base of a ruck, allowing Ed Falkingham to crash over close to the posts after 34 minutes. Green's conversion took the score at half time to 20-10.

A lacklustre start to the second half by Stortford produced a soft turnover and the visitors seized on it with relish to break a tackle out wide and burst almost to the line, where a quick ruck allowed flanker, James Sanderson, running a strong diagonal line to take the first pass and crash through for a try, with barely a minute gone. Green's conversion narrowed the gap to 3 points, which seemed to shock the home team into action. A tremendous burst and 50 metre run from deep by Hankin shortly afterwards should have brought a home try, but a loose pass, with support on both sides killed the opportunity. Stortford kept the initiative, though and a period of pressure told, as the ball was switched quickly left allowing Sam Winter to exploit a two-man overlap to score an unconverted try. The home side's bonus point try followed 7 minutes later, when Johnny Neville, now playing in the centre crashed onto a short pass to touch down close to the posts after another series of attacking drives in the Ionians' 22. Cullen's routine conversion stretched the lead to 15 points and the visitors were surely not going to come back from that hammer blow. Never let it be said, though that Stortford are not generous hosts and a wild pass into space in midfield after yet another lineout steal by the home side fell to an Ionian centre and a few quick passes were all it took to see winger, Sam Wilson in for a converted try on 67 minutes. The visitors' tails were now up and they launched into a series of attacks. A turnover won by an excellent tackle from Neville in midfield, however led to a couple of penalties for Stortford and the second one, coming from an Ionians' scrum under their posts brought another 3 points for Cullen. The battling visitors were not ready to concede defeat, though and were duly rewarded at the death with a trademark try from a driving maul after a 5 metre lineout, which brought them two bonus points - well-deserved on the balance of play on the day.

Stortford will be looking to get back to last week's levels of accuracy and intensity for next week's trip to Birmingham Moseley in their quest to bring back more than a losing bonus point from their second successive trip to a Midlands rugby hotbed.