Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 7 Westcombe Park 20

Stortford started the game looking extremely rusty in all aspects of the game after the holiday break and although the visitors initially looked little better, they did gradually improve which, unfortunately proved beyond the home side. There was little of note to report in the first half hour beyond a difficult penalty shot at goal by Tom Coleman which bounced out off the left hand upright. As the visitors improved, taking advantage of the minimal pressure being exerted on them by their opposition, they eventually managed to mount the first sustained attack by either side and were rewarded with a penalty try after 35 minutes, when the home side were penalised for collapsing a maul close to their own line after 3 or 4 previous offences. Stortford bounced back with their first passage of play that had gone beyond a couple of phases and were rewarded with an eminently kickable penalty. Unfortunatley, Coleman's effort, which would have bisected the posts 9 times out of 10 crashed back off the left hand post. The visitors took immediate advantage of this let-off, when flyhalf, Luke Giles kicked an impressive penalty goal from close to halfway. This took the halftime score to 0-10.

Far from regathering themselves after the break, Stortford started the second half in identical vein to the disappointing first half and, having twice kicked away decent ball directly to well-placed opposition backs failed to defend strongly enough and conceded a second try to a smart inside pass to right winger, Nikki Davies cutting in off his wing to touch down close to the posts. Giles made no mistake with the conversion to take the visitors out to a deserved 0-17 lead some 6 minutes into the half. A fracas following a collapsed scrum after 15 minutes produced red cards for Luke Bellinger, the visitor's second row for violent conduct and for Stortford flanker, Chris Aldam for failing to heed the referee's instruction not to retaliate. This incident preceded a brief surge by Stortford, who set up position in the Westcombe Park 22 from the resultant penalty and a couple of minutes later managed to score a try as second row, Hamish Irving forced his way over from a 5 metre lineout. Coleman suddenly found his kicking boots and kicked a tremendous conversion from the touchline. This was the last noteworthy action by the home side, however and when, some 10 minutes later they lost prop Sean Edwards ro a recurrence of a shoulder injury any remorte chance of an unlikely win disappeared. With no specialist prop to take his place, a scrum within seconds of his departure produced a penalty for the visitors, which Giles had no problem in converting. The game finished as scrappily as it had started, leaving the final score at 7-20.

There is no doubt that the better side won, Westcombe Park having a clear edge in almost every department of the game, following a simple but effective game plan with considerable commitment. The Stortford squad now need to demonstrate their own commitment with some hard training over the next couple of weeks to turn things around from a very disappointing collective performance.