Shelford 22 Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 24

Struggling from the word go at the lineout, Stortford were quickly made to pay, when, after 2 minutes although scrambling back the ball, gave flyhalf, Tom Coleman poor ball with little option but to kick and a good run back by Shelford’s fullback, Peter Baird forced a penalty which flyhalf, Elliot Bale converted with consummate ease. The kick, aided by a helpful breeze sailed over from almost halfway, putting Stortford on clear notice of the perils of infringing anywhere within their half. The home team suffered a significant setback 3 minutes later, when No 6, Scott Jackowski was yellow carded for a late and illegal tackle on centre, Sam Winter in midfield. Stortford were looking very sharp outside and an incisive break up the middle by fullback, Nick Hankin and a well-judged pass to Jimmy Rea allowed the winger to run almost to the home try line. Quickly recycled ball was moved to the right, where an overlap was clinically exploited to put second row, Matt Tomlinson in for a try out close to the touchline on 7 minutes. Shelford put great pressure on the restart dropout and a soft penalty conceded at a breakdown by Stortford gave Bale an easy three points after 10 minutes. Stortford now had the upper hand in most aspects of the game and a tremendous drive from a 5 metre scrum saw No 8, Mark McCraith over for Stortford’s second try after 15 minutes. The tricky conversion into the wind again proved just too much for Coleman, leaving his side only 6-10 ahead. Shelford indiscipline again cost them dear with a yellow card after 37 minutes for their other flanker, Jamie Beswick for an offence in the red zone, as Stortford threatened to break through from one of a number of quickly tapped penalties. The visitors again declined the 3 points on offer and opted for a scrum and, although Shelford doggedly held the pack out, scrumhalf, Arran Mahoney made the most of scrappy ball to give Jono Child some space out wide. The winger still had a lot to do, though and he did extremely well to force his way past two covering defenders to touch down out wide after 41 minutes. The conversion was again narrowly missed by Coleman and there was enough time left for Bale to kick another 3 points, when Stortford were penalised at a breakdown some 30 metres out, after the home side again contested the restart kick extremely well. This took the halftime score to 9-15, which hardly reflected the clear edge, which Stortford had enjoyed for most of the half.

The visitors soon extended their lead by 3 points with an easy penalty for Coleman after 3 minutes of the second period, following some good teamwork, which drove Shelford back to their own 22. Further problems at the lineout, however, were significant in stopping the visitors from pressing home their advantage and Shelford slowly worked their way back into the game, aided also by a stronger performance at set scrums, following a substitution at prop. Determined defence by Stortford prevented any serious immediate threat to their line and the home side had to content themselves with another penalty from the unerring boot of Bale after 55 minutes for offside by Stortford. After 61 minutes, though Shelford finally scored a try, touching down under the posts through one of their centres, after Stortford’s defence had been twice sucked in by driving mauls from textbook 5 metre lineouts – really rubbing home Stortford’s continuing shortcomings in this area. The easy conversion by Bale took his side into a one point lead. It was only now that Stortford managed to refind their ball-handling skills of the first half and, as they drove hard into the Shelford 22, were stopped only by a deliberate knock-on. Although the resultant penalty was not a difficult kick by his standards, the pressure was clearly on Tom Coleman, but he proved well up to the challenge, as he drilled the ball between the posts to retake the lead after 65 minutes. Seven minutes later, he again held his nerve well to extend the lead to 19-24, when Shelford were penalised at a scrum in their own 22, after he himself had made tremendous territory with a great tactical kick to touch. Still shading the balance of play in the second half, Shelford were far from done and forced Stortford back into their 22, but lacked the confidence to go for a winning try, when the visitors conceded a penalty for offside. They instead settled for yet another Bale penalty to take the score to 22-24 after 76 minutes. Although the home side hurled themselves back into the fray, Stortford showed commendable control and tactical nous to see out the remaining 5 minutes in the Shelford half for a two-point victory.

A huge amount of work, of course, goes on off the field and even away from the training field to support the efforts of our players and thanks go from the First Team squad - and indeed the whole Club - to Tubby and his small team of helpers for their considerable labours in recent weeks to lay the new foundations for the marquee. This was essential preparatory work before the tent can go up for next week's Ladies' Day and special thanks go to Dennis Whiffen, Mark Bennett and Gary Price for having stayed at the Club yesterday to virtually complete the work - the last two knocking off, only after dark had fallen! Well done, chaps!!!