Taunton looked to exert early pressure, but this was soaked up well by a determined home team and, after only 3 minutes they were rewarded with an excellent try from Sam Winter, rewarding adventure in running the ball out of their own 22 and Nick Hankin’s hard work in following up a kick ahead. Tom Coleman’s conversion extended the lead to 7, but Taunton ground their way back into the game and two penalties from fullback, Gary Kingdom after 7 and 15 minutes narrowed the deficit to a single point. Stortford fought their way back into the game, with a changed front row in particular doing sterling service against a pack that had become used in previous games to dominating the opposition at scrum time– an achievement they only very occasionally achieved today. Twice skipper Tom Coleman spurned kickable penalties and, after 24 minutes he and his team gained the reward for their adventure, when man of the match, No 8, Mark McCraith burst single-handedly through Taunton’s defensive line on their 22 to touchdown, after winger, Mike Gallagher had set up good ball from a confident take of a defensive kick and a strong run upfield. Coleman’s conversion took the score to 14-6. A yellow card after 35 minutes to Taunton’s flanker, Jamie Fleming for a cynical knock-on to halt a threatening Stortford counter-attack gave the home side an extra boost and the score became 19-6 some 3 minutes later, when Hankin forced his way over for his side’s third try, following a great passage of sustained and patient interpassing and ball retention against a determined Taunton defence, during which Winter, Tom Banks and Jono Child all came close to scoring. This time the conversion attempt drifted narrowly wide, to leave the score at halftime at 19-6

Despite the strong advantage that the home side had enjoyed for much of the first half and the 13 point lead, no-one in the Stortford camp could have felt comfortable, after the tremendous comeback, which Taunton had achieved in the second half down there towards the end of last season, when they came back from a large deficit to force a draw and preserve their season’s unbeaten home record at the death. The home team, though were not in any mood to allow a repetition and, within 3 minutes of the restart had registered their 4th, bonus point-winning try, when Child crashed over wide out on the left after some more excellent teamwork. Coleman’s conversion attempt went narrowly wide and Taunton, boosted briefly by the introduction of two new props surged onto the offensive and, after some 10 minutes camped in the Stortford half, they eventually broke down the stubborn home defence for a try to Lewis Webb after 14 minutes of the half. The burly scrumhalf was a constant threat around the fringes and he finally exploited the pressure exerted by his team to force his way over the line close to the posts, giving Kingdom an easy conversion to narrow the gap to 11 points. Undaunted, Stortford fought their way straight back into the game and a swift counter-attack off another good catch by Gallagher under heavy pressure found McCraith in space on the right wing. After making several yards in his usual rumbustious way, the No 8 resorted to the unusual and put in a tremendous grubber kick down the line, which two defenders were unable to cope with and Hankin swooped in to touchdown his second try after 19 minutes of the half. Coleman’s excellent conversion from the touchline took the lead out to 18 points, which became 21 eight minutes later, when he kicked a goal, after more pressure on the Taunton 22 produced a scrum in front of the posts, from which Stortford’s now resurgent pack won the penalty. The visitors surged back onto the attack and it was Webb, once again, who took full advantage of Stortford’s inability fully to exploit pressure at the back of a Taunton scrum in the home 22 to wriggle free and run over for his second try, which he converted himself. A losing bonus point was now potentially in their reach, but Stortford comfortably held out for the remaining 7 or 8 minutes to register a tremendous bonus-point win.