League Opener Sees Hat-Trick for Boys Named Stu

...just four minutes later they had their answer as Stu Newman dived into the corner to put the Blues ahead.

Here was the first of four tries for the newly promoted Fours that afternoon and it was appropriate that it was made by new Captain James Lipscombe. Playing at Stand-off, Lipscombe punted behind the Stevenage back three and Johnny Blackwell at 13 gave chase, secured the ball, and put Stu Newman into space with the line in front of him.

Stortford jogged quietly back to receive the restart as if they didn’t quite believe how well things were going.

History nearly repeated itself two minutes later as the Blues took a scrum against the head. Lipscombe punted and Left Wing Dean Greenwood accelerated onto the bounce only to have it snatched from his grasp by his opposite number. Stevenage countered at pace down the wing. What looked for a moment like a certain try was saved with gusto as Greenwood (in hot-pursuit) and Blackwell (covering back) arrived at the same time and smashed the unfortunate winger into touch.

Stortford were rampant throughout the first quarter. Stu Newman pirouetted off the back of a scrum and sent a perfectly weighted chip into the box which Right Wing Ken Byrne just failed to get his fingers on. It wasn’t the only scoring chance that went begging, but it didn’t seem to matter as the Blues continued to dominate. So it came as a nasty surprise when the Stevenage backs finally got their hands on the ball: the centre grubbered, chased and fell over the line for a touch down near the posts. The conversion made it seven-five to Stevenage.

For the next 15 minutes, Stortford controlled the scrum and lineout, but the opposition defence held firm against some powerful runs from the Blue juggernauts at 12 and 13. As half time approached, Stevenage were somehow still ahead despite having enjoyed very little possession, but with just two minutes to go two Stortford errors paid unexpected dividends. First they let Stevenage snaffle the ball from a maul that had thundered 30 yards down field, but that only meant Stortford won the throw in on the five metre line as the maul collapsed into touch. Pack leader Kev Stockdale was rulilng the line out and he soared skywards, but this time he knocked the ball on. It looked like another scoring chance had passed them by, but all was not lost as Stu Newman shot out of the blocks and dragged down their scrum half as he tried to get rid of the ball from the base of his scrum. Big Dave Walker waded in, tidied up the spillage and yomped over the line for a try which Lipscombe then slotted from out wide. Stortford went into half time leading 12 -7.

The Blues began the second half with even more panache. The skipper took the ball from an early lineout, stepped inside, span out of a tackle and found space down the left hand side. Lipscombe fed Fudge on his inside who ploughed up the mid-field, off-loaded to prop Wilson Bigg, who span the ball out to Stu Thomas on the charge. The try was a formality.

Stevenage battled on and when their backs did get possession they looked threatening. A kick over the top left Ken Byrne isolated as he covered back. Two Stevenage players arrived and there was nothing the Irish speedster could do to stop the try.

More powerful surges from the Stortford centres nearly increased the their five point lead, especially when Stu Thomas was brought down inches from the line and popped to Gary Price in support, only for him to lose the ball over the line. At the end of the second quarter, Stevenage once again had the luck of the bounce against the flow of play and went over to level the score at 17-17.

At that point, Stortford might have despaired that Stevenage were somehow managing to stay in the game, but they kept their cool and with 8 mins to go Lipscombe called a scissors with Stu Thomas. The 12 jinked into the opposition forwards with his most flamboyant run of the afternoon. By this point most of the Stevenage players had had to endure contact with Thomas and it looked like nobody wanted another go at the big man. He broke several half-hearted tackles and powered over to take Stortford ahead and secure his man-of-the-match title.

A back injury to one of their players stopped the clock with two minutes to go, and although play couldn’t continue on the same pitch, Stevenage insisted on moving to another pitch in the hope of clawing back some points in the dying seconds of the game, but that was never going to happen now the Fours had victory in their sights. Final whistle: 24-17. A superb debut in Divison 3.

Stevenage Town 3rd XV 17 v Bishop's Stortford 4th XV 24

Captain: James Lipscombe
Team Manager: Kevin Stockdale
Sponsor: Fish ‘n’ Chick’n

Man-of-the-match: Stu Thomas