In front of a huge crowd, Stortford do just enough to gain the victory necessary to see them through to an historic promotion play-off match next week.

This was far from a classic, with the referee, technically, being the top scorer, with 4 out of the total of 7 tries in the game being penalty tries and, generally being far too prominent in the overall proceedings. With Stortford seemingly trying to score from every phase, their error count was high, especially since they were confronted by a surprisingly committed Launceston side, who were particularly strong in defence. The home team also managed, despite having more possession than the opposition to give away a number of penalties at breakdowns, on which the ref. was clearly very hot, culminating in a yellow card, just before halftime to Tom Coleman as the latest culprit. As a result the game was very much a stop-start affair and a lot of flashes of inventive rugby from the home side went to waste.

The first score came after 15 minutes, when George Cullen kicked a penalty, after Palepoi Nonu was penalised for a particularly bad neck-high tackle on Sam Winter - only a couple of minutes after he'd received similar treatment from the Launceston flyhalf. The centre was yellow-carded for the straight-arm challenge- the minimum penalty his offence deserved. Despite this, it was the visitors that scored the first try some 9 minutes later, when flanker, Harry Davies caught the Stortford pack napping by dashing up the front of a 5 metre lineout to take a short throw and run over the line untouched to give his fullback, Billy Searle an easy conversion. The first penalty try came only 4 minutes later, when Stortford were driving hard at the Launceston line from a 5 metre lineout and a certain try to No 8, Steve Ball was prevented illegally. Prop, Timothy Mathias received a yellow card as the guilty party and George Cullen duly converted to restore his side's 3 point lead. This was itself short-lived, however, when Searle kicked a penalty for a breakdown offence almost directly from the restart. Four minutes later, though saw Stortford with a 7 point lead, after Winter rounded off the one piece of clinical running rugby of the match to touch down under the posts. The opportunity came from a great break out of defence by fullback, Cullen and a well-timed pass to Nick Hankin allowed the winger to commit the fullback and set his centre free to the line. The rest of the half petered out, with Coleman's yellow card just before the break the only incident of note.

Despite being a man short, Stortford played with a bit more control early in the second half and failed to register another try for Winter only when the centre just lost control of the ball in stretching for the line after some more incisive running by the backs. The team were not to be denied, though and, having driven the opposition pack back at pace at the resultant scrum, were awarded the put-in at the next scrum, from which another compelling surge forced the front row to collapse and concede the second penalty try 13 minutes into the half. Cullen's conversion took the lead out to 14 points, but this was halved only 5 minutes later, with a penalty try to Launceston, after a second surge from a driving maul off a 5 metre lineout was brought down just short of the line. The fourth penalty try of the game effectively decided the match after 65 minutes, when Launceston were penalised at three successive scrums on their own line, making the decision the easiest of the day for Mr Davis. Mathias received his second yellow card for his part in this but, yet again his team manged to conjure up a try in his absence. This one came after 72 minutes, when flanker, James Salter intercepted a long pass from the base of a ruck close to halfway to sprint over under the posts unmolested. The routine conversion by Searle narrowed the gap to 7 points and, with both Dorking and Taunton looking on track for 5 points, a draw would not have been enough to see Stortford through to the play-off. Despite this added pressure, the home side proceeded to pay some of their most controlled rugby and never really looked like giving up the vital lead - much to the relief of the home crowd!

Just one more push for the Stortford boys and next week, away to play-off veterans, Ampthill, there's nothing at all to lose so,. hopefully we can look forward to a return to some of the compelling 15-man rugby they have treated us to earlier in the season and a shock for the home-team favourites!.