Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 31 Hartpury 21

With some 290 people booked in for the pre-match lunch, it was great to be hosting the League Champions, Hartpury and the fiercely contested match lived fully up to the occasion.

The visitors got off to a fast start and within 5 minutes of the kick-off had registered a try to left wing, Stef Reynolds after a rare lapse in Stortford’s defensive organisation created a huge opening. Flyhalf, Billy Burns had no problem with a relatively easy conversion. Within 4 minutes the scores were level though, when home skipper, Tom Coleman converted a try scored by flanker, Steve Ball from a great driving maul off a 5 metre lineout. Hartpury fought back immediately and soon regained the lead, when a period of concerted pressure by their big forwards on the Stortford line forced a number of penalties, culminating in a penalty try after 15 minutes and the routine conversion took the score to 7-14. The home side in turn bounced back fairly quickly with a try to centre, Johnny Neville, bursting over from 20 metres out after some tremendous interplay amongst his forwards, with No 8, Mark McCraith to the fore had put the visitors on the back foot. Coleman’s conversion attempt went narrowly wide, but his side took the lead for the first time after 27 minutes of the game, when fullback, Nick Hankin scored a brilliant solo try following a clean break up the middle by McCraith. Coleman made no mistake with the conversion from under the posts, but his side’s lead was to last only a couple of minutes, when Reynolds registered the visitors’ second try, after a Stortford handling error on their own 22 was immediately punished. Burns kicked a tremendous conversion from the touchline to take his side into a 21-19 lead, which they protected until halftime, despite some considerable further pressure from Stortford.

The home side picked up in the second period, where they had left off in the first and all but scored a try, which the referee adjudged to have been held up over the line. Not to be denied, though, the Stortford pack put on a tremendous drive from the resultant 5 metre scrum and, after two penalty offences were committed by the Hartpury pack, a penalty try was awarded some 9 minutes into the half. Coleman’s routine conversion took his side out to a 26-21 lead. The visitors had clearly not travelled across to Hertfordshire to concede anything without a fight and they launched themselves in wave upon wave of attacks on the Stortford defence. The home team’s tackling, however, was unyielding and Hartpury seldom managed to penetrate. On the three occasions that they did breach the first line of defence, the Stortford line came under serious threat but each time a tremendous last-ditch tackle was produced – twice by Hankin and once by winger, Johno Child. The first of Hankin’s interventions, in fact proved to be match-turning, when he leapt swiftly to his feet after making the tackle and flyhacked the resultant loose ball virtually the length of the pitch and was denied a try only by an unfortunate bounce of the ball. He managed, nevertheless to secure the ball and quick support from his teammates allowed Coleman time to pick out with a pinpoint crosskick Johnny Neville out near the opposite touchline, where the centre exploited the acres of space to take a clean catch and touch down for his second and his team’s fifth try. The conversion attempt went narrowly wide, but Stortford managed to see out the remaining 10 minutes without too many alarms to close out a tremendous 31-21 win.

To finish the season with such a hard-fought victory over the League Champions was in itself a major achievement, but in so-doing Stortford completed their first season in National Two South without having lost twice to any team. Given the faltering start to the season and the overall strength of the league, this is a significant achievement. Buoyed by this, we now all travel across to St Albans tomorrow in even greater heart to support the Blues in their effort to retain the Herts President’s Cup against Letchworth’s First XV!