4th’s win Thriller against Borehamwood

Stortford win Thriller
Bishop’s Stortford 4th’s played host to Borhamwood in what promised to be a physical close fought game and with only one point separating the teams in the Merit Table 3rd Division there was a lot at stake.
Bishop’s Stortford lost the toss and played into the wind in the first half. Bishop’s Stortford forwards soon took control of the opening exchanges with Richard Warboys and Robert Neal putting themselves into the tick of the action early on. Bishop’s Stortford line out functioned brilliantly all day and it was from this platform that Stortford scored the first points. The ball came off the top of the lineout quickly allowing Graeme Francis, Stortford’s powerful Inside Centre, to punch a hole right through the defence of Borehamwood, a couple more phases and some quick ball allowed the influential flanker, Simon Sterenberg to go over in the corner.
John Lewis missed the conversion but the windy, wet, muddy conditions made it extremely difficult for kicking. Stortford continued to apply pressure with the outstanding Graeme Francis continually smashing holes in the Borehamwood defence and the pressure soon counted as Stortford were awarded a penalty that John Lewis slotted over. They could not make their territorial dominance count decisively however as after nearly 30 minutes of being camped in the oppositions 22 they could not turn the pressure into points. Borhamwood started to get into the game and some ill discipline by Stortford and with some good kicking from the Inside Centre Stortford spent the last 10 minutes of the first half camped on their 10 meter line. Some strong defence work from the back row and scrum half Mark Brown nearly denied Borhamwood a try but some quick turnover ball gave their big centres some space to run into and saw them crash over the line. The conversion was kicked and Borehamwood were 7-8 up. With only 1 minute of the first half to play Borehamwood sent a well hit drop goal over Stortford’s posts to see them go in 10-8 up.
Stortford started the second half the brighter of the two teams and really began to use the wind to their advantage. Some intelligent kicking from Mark Brown and John Lewis and the strength of the Stortford line out meant that Borehamwood saw very little ball as the second half progressed. Matt Slade played superbly at number 8, constantly breaking away from the base of the scrum and crossing the gain line. Stortford mauled well and kept the Borehamwood pack extremely busy. It was however Borehamwood who scored the first points of the first half with a breakaway try that threatened to break the heart of Stortford’s players. The ball went to ground on the Borehamwood 5 meter line and there outside centre kicked the ball down field and the chase was on. Josh Wheatley the Bishop’s Stortford right wing, made a valiant effort to get back but unfortunately luck was not on his side as the ball bobbled around as he went to dive on it allowing the Borehamwood players to touch it down and score a try that was completely against the run of play. 2 points were added by the fly half and the score line of 17-8 certainly did not tell the full story. Stortford picked themselves up and within 5 minutes were awarded a penalty try after Borehamwood were a judged to have pulled down a maul. John Lewis converted in front of the posts and Stortford were now 17 – 15 down. Again Stortford piled on the pressure and with 5 minutes on the clock were awarded a penalty 20 meters in from the touch line and approximately 22 meters from the posts. With the strong wind kicking a penalty of this difficulty was not going to be easy but John Lewis stepped up and struck the ball perfectly and it sailed through the uprights to put Stortford in the lead 18 – 17 for the first time in the second half. A nervous 5 minutes later and the final whistle blew with Stortford being worthy winners by 1 point. Rob Neal was the Fish’n’Chick’n man of the match for his superb line out work and ferocious tackling.