Bishops Stortford 4’s (27) vs Old Verulamians (15)

We lost a few guys to the 3’s during the latter half of the week but still had a very strong looking side although we did need to shuffle the front row around a bit. Josh Prime remained loose head, Andy Southgate moved to tight head and Adam Bäre stepped in to have his first game at hooker.
OV’s started positively and Stortford spent the first 10 minutes or so playing in our own half. Although OV’s had plenty of possession they weren’t really threatening our line but we did concede a number of penalties at the breakdown and for not being 10 metres at the restart from penalties and line outs.
Once we got this sorted out we got on the front foot and scored a well worked try through Ryan Griffiths. OV’s responded strongly and after a great period of defence by Stortford they managed to get one back.
The 4’s have shown great spirit this season and this really came through after conceding the try. The whole team pulled together, reduced the penalty count and stopped trying to force the game. This resulted in Stortford totally dominating the middle 40 minutes with some fantastic interplay between the forwards and backs, great lines being picked by our centres and some strong individual breaks which led to a further 4 tries – Diddy (1), Ryan (2) and Jack Newett (1). That is the second hatrick in a row for Ryan Griffiths!
Stortford switched off a bit in the last 15 minutes or so and OV’s bundled over for a try. This gave them a new lease of life and they were rewarded with another controversial try in the dying minutes.
Overall another really great performance from Stortford 4’s and another team effort we can all be proud of.
Everybody worked really hard for each other but it would be wrong not to mention strong individual performances from Jack FP who battled on with a suspected broken wrist for at least 30 mins, great running from Ryan Griffiths and Billy Mahony in the centres, strong tackling and scavenging from Diddy Byatt and Conrad Davy and some genuine pace and skill from Taylor Bovingdon on the wing.
Man of the match was Adam Bäre for stepping in to play hooker ensuring that we held our own in the scrum and winning 2 against the head.
Dick of the day was me for being turned onto my back in the oppositions in goal area and refusing to let go of the ball for Mark Brown to score. This was in spite of him yelling very loudly in my ear to give it up thereby denying the birthday boy a well deserved try.
There is no fixture next week so enjoy the break and we’ll re-group for our 4th win in a row away to Watford 2’s on the 11th October.