In a bitterly cold wind, buffeting across the pitch, conditions did not favour free-flowing rugby but Stortford rightly persisted in trying to move the ball quickly against Plymouth's powerful side and especially strong pack, though handling errors did inevitably occur. Nevertheless the visitors' adventure was rewarded after 14 minutes, when Nick Hankin cut an incisive line to take a short pass from George Cullen on halfway and totally wrong-footed the fast and aggressive home defence. The fullback then had the pace to make the tryline in the corner for a 5 point lead. Stortford now enjoyed a period of control, but were unable to make any further breakthrough and a couple of handling errors after 20 minutes allowed Plymouth into the visitors' 22, where they then camped for a good ten minutes, taking scrum after scrum, as the officials found fault with various aspects of Stortford's front row play to award a number of penalties. The defence held staunchly for phase after phase of forward drives but, eventually was undone, as the ball was fed to the backs and Plymouth's outstanding fullback, Matt Shepherd stepped inside to break an uncharacteristically tentative tackle and touch down under the posts to give himself an easy conversion and his side the lead. The home side were soon on the front foot again, taking advantage of a couple of poor Stortford clearance kicks to press into the opposition 22. As snow started to fall, though and with first half time running out, Hankin was able to give winger, Rob Duff a yard of space on the outside, which is all he needed to get outside his opposite number and run clear. Shepherd stood in his way, but Duff stood him up and then accelerated through the attempted tackle to race over in the corner for a fantastic 85 yard try. The conversion attempt again failed, leaving the visitors with a slender 3 point lead at the break.

With skipper, Sam Winter injured and replaced for the second half by debutant, George Keen after a tremendous first half, particularly in defence, the pressure was on the youngster, but he came through the sternest of tests extremely well. An early break by Hankin from a Plymouth kick put his side on the attack and it was the home side's turn to defend their own line and they appeared to be fortunate, when Mark McCraith was penalised for offside, when he came round a ruck to touch down the ball, which had crossed the try line. With the wind now apparently having swung somewhat to favour the home side, they proceeded to dominate much of the rest of the game in terms both of possession and territory, but were met by continued stout resistance from a doughty Stortford side. After 59 minutes, though a soft penalty awarded in midfield for an obstruction after Plymouth had put in a speculative long grubber kick allowed the latter to put the penalty to touch well inside the Stortford 22, from where their powerful pack eventually managed to drive over for a try, again converted by Shepherd. Four points behind, thanks to the two conversions, the visitors were now put under ever-increasing pressure but, although clearly and understandably tiring, they dug ever deeper and repelled wave after wave of Plymouth attacks. Eventually, though the home side's efforts were rewarded with a penalty under Stortford's posts for what was deemed to have been a high tackle and, having already conceded two tries from distance Plymouth took the decision to stretch their lead by kicking the goal with only some 5 minutes left on the clock. A number of Stortford players were looking out on their feet, but the team rallied again and, remarkably, forced their way into the opposition 22 and now it was Plymouth's turn to demonstrate their own strong rearguard defence. The visitors would not be repelled, though and they forced a number of penalties, taking time several minutes into the red, as they battered away at the Plymouth line. Unfortunately, the game ended in dreadful anti-climax, when yet another penalty was kicked for touch but instead found touch in goal to end the match.

This was another Stortford performance, of which the squad can be proud and it was a shame that a number of the 20 or so supporters who had made the long journey and endured the freezing conditions, had to head off home immediately after the final whistle, in order to try and beat the worsening weather to get safely home and thus were deprived of the opportunity of giving the players the pats on the back they all richly deserved. COYB!