Stortford started strongly, stretching the opposition left and right, but their defence held strong and the home side had to settle for a penalty for a breakdown offence after 7 minutes, which Tom Coleman slotted for a 3 point lead. The visitors missed an immediate chance to level the scores, when Stortford were pinged on the fringes of a ruck, but the shot at goal went narrowly wide. Despite enjoying a clear advantage in the scrums and having a generally well-drilled lineout, the home side failed to prise open the Shelford defence. In fact it was the visitors that registered the first try after 20 minutes, exploiting some woeful defensive alignment around the base of a ruck, from which it took an age for the ball to emerge and yet prop, Nico Steenkamp was able to trundle over from first receiver without a hand being laid on him. Flyhalf, Steve Smith's easy conversion took his side out to a 4 point lead , but this was turned into a 3 point deficit some 14 minutes later, when Steve Ball broke off the back of a driving maul set up at a lineout some 7/8 metres out from the Shelford line to crash over for a try, duly converted by Coleman. The home side then seemed to go into sleep mode, conceding converted tries after 38 and 40 minutes in the softest of fashions.The first, scored by John Hall was almost a carbon copy of their first try, with no tight marker on the openside fringe of a ruck, allowing the second row another open passage to the line. The second came, as Stortford tried to force the game, when a poor midfield pass was comfortably intercepted by flyhalf, Smith, who cantered over from halfway. Enough time remained in the half for Stortford to exert extreme pressure on the visitors' line through their dominant pack, but a series of scrums within 10 metres of the line, producing four penalties against the Shelford loosehead prop led only to a yellow card for the culprit. With a replacement on, another penalty was conceded, though not by the front row but, when Stortford took yet another scrum - now some 6 metres out - , the visitors' front row seemed to dissolve in an identical fashjon to that which had led to the first 4 penalties, but the referee saw it differently and awarded a knock-on against Stortford to leave the halftime score at 10-21.

The home side seemed significantly better organised in the second half and, maybe some of the hard defensive work demanded of some of Shelford's big forwards also started to tell. Within 5 minutes of the restart, the deficit was cut to 4 points, when Coleman converted his own try, created by some typically expansive rugby, which had stretched the opposition first right then left to create a hole for the flyhalf to dart through. Further adventure from the home side was rewarded some 5 minutes later, when Coleman converted another penalty for a breakdown offence to bring his side within one point. Stortford were now well on top, though Shelford substitute backrow, Aki Lea did on occasions pose a threat with his strong, direct running. Despite their general dominance, the home side seldom looked like breaking down the stubborn Shelford defence in open play and it was 20 minutes before another Coleman penalty for a scrummage offence took the home side back into the lead. The decisive action of the game came 9 minutes later, when a Shelford knock-on in trying to clear their lines, after an excellent touch find by Coleman, produced a scrum close to the try line. Starting closer to the line than they had done at the end of the first half, it took only three scrums and three penalties for referee, Phillip Davies to award a penalty try. The extra two points from Coleman took the final score to 30-21.

Not a banner day by any means, but any win over Shelford is a good win and should send the team off to Dings next week in good heart - after some hard remedial work during the week, no doubt!