Old Elthamians 16 Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 24

Having kicked away early possession, Stortford conceded a couple of penalties, but, fortunately these were not punished. The home side exerted some pressure in the Stortford 22, but the visitors seized on a knock-on in their own half and a decisive break from John Stocker crashing up the middle found Wayne Child and Maehe Austin in support and a clean break by Tom Coleman from the resultant ruck on the OEs' 22 saw the flyhalf over for a try under the posts. His own conversion established a 7-0 lead. Five minutes later, as Stortford pressed again, the home 13 was penalised and yellow carded for a tip tackle(also lateish), but Coleman's shot at goal missed narrowly. His side was able to capitalise on the extra man, though, when Stocker touched down under the posts 20 minutes in, exploiting a potential overlap on the right to step inside the covering defenders. Coleman's conversion took the lead to 14 points. Stortford continued to press, but an over-ambitious move in midfield on the home 22 turned the ball over and, as OEs counter-attacked, they were awarded a penalty for offside, which their fullback converted after 41 minutes. Stortford still looked in control but were made to pay heavily for failing to close down the home side's dangerous left wing who, not for the first time, made good ground and on this occasion his forwards were able to support in numbers and drive a maul over for a try. A good conversion by their 15 right on half time took the score to 10-14 - a scoreline with which they must have been delighted, given Stortford's general superiority over the half.

The visitors came out for the 2nd half in determined fashion and the scoreline soon came to reflect more closely the balance of play, when Stocker scored his second try after 4 minutes, bursting through a tackle out wide to round off a good counter-attack off a poor defensive kick from OEs. Coleman's attempted conversion went narrowly wide and Stortford seemed again to go a little off the boil, failing again to make any significant challenge for the dropout and then conceding a soft penalty for a late tackle after a poor home kick ahead. Some poor home handling out wide meant that the position was not fully exploited by OEs but, they nevertheless managed to narrow the deficit to 6 points after 11 minutes, when their fullback kicked a good goal after Stortford were penalised for offside. A poor restart reception by Stortford produced another penalty for the home side but, fortunately this one did not cost points. Stortford, however, came under considerable pressure over the next few minutes and some stern defence was required to keep OEs out. The next score, though went the visitors' way when good pressure on a speculative kick by Coleman forced a turnover in the opponents' half and an astute crosskick by the Stortford flyhalf found Stocker lurking on the opposite wing, where he committed the last two defenders to set winger, Nick Harris free inside to touch down for an unconverted try after 18 minutes. 13-24. It took only a minute, though for the home side to cut the deficit to 8 points, when another weak attempt to contest the dropout resulted in home possesion and a penalty for offside against Stortford. OEs then enjoyed the better of possession for several minutes, but were unable to breach a sturdy Stortford defence. The contest was, though effectively ended when, after 35 minutes, the home 6 was yellow-carded for tripping Hamish Irving, as the second row hacked the ball through and threatened to break clear after OEs failed to deal with a high kick out of the Stortford 22.

The final scoreline of 16-24 probably was a fair reflection of the overall balance of play, but both sides will come away with lots to think about and work on ahead of their respective local derbies next week.