A roller-coaster of a game could have gone either way in the last quarter, but Stortford managed to hold on for an important 5 league-point win.
Against a much-changed home side, Stortford started strongly, stretching the opposition defence to breaking point, before knocking on close to the try line. This mistake was soon corrected, as more quick handling down the line gave Tom Mills room out wide on the right and he made no mistake, scoring an unconverted try with 4 minutes gone. Rams countered aggressively and James Apperley, prevented an equalising try with a tremendous last ditch cover tackle, bouncing to his feet to win the turnover. With 22 minutes gone, the No 6 showed his ability on the other side of the ball by rounding off several phases of expansive attacking rugby, after Will Rogers had been stopped just short. Dan Cole’s conversion put Stortford 12 points ahead, but only for 3 minutes, when a strongly driven maul from a Rams’ attacking lineout saw them touch down by the corner flag. The visitors’ lead was extended by three, though within 2 minutes, when Rams were penalised at the restart reception and marched back 10 metres for backchat, presenting Cole with a relatively straightforward shot from the tee. Stortford came under pressure again from some more aggressive running from Rams, but a much improved defence proved up to the challenge and forced the home side back. It, nevertheless, took a tremendous chase and cover tackle from Tom Hitchcock to prevent a probable Rams try after they seized on a Stortford handling error in their own 22 to dash almost the length of the field. Halftime scoreline, 5-15.
With intermittent drizzle starting to make handling more difficult, a good start to the second period was important. It was the home side that achieved this after only 2 minutes, capitalising on some loose play in Stortford’s backs to spread the ball quickly to the left, where three missed tackles allowed the overlapping left winger to step inside to touch down, giving his flyhalf an easy conversion. A yellow card only a minute later to Rams’ No 6 for taking out a player in the air put his side under pressure and a good, diagonal dart by Chris Bolton from the base of a ruck , with 6 minutes of the half gone, created a golden try-scoring opportunity. This initially went begging, with Mills free outside, but quick recycling saw the ball spun left, where Ioan Parry made no mistake in touching down out wide. Rams came firing back and two converted tries in the next 10 minutes saw them fly into a six point lead. The scores came from clinical finishing, albeit aided by a couple of momentary defensive lapses from Stortford. The home side’s ill-discipline again cost them dearly after 20 minutes when they lost another forward to the bin for repeated team offences. The remaining 14 players dug deep, though and Stortford had to battle hard for the next score. Despite failing to seize a couple of golden chances, the visitors took back the lead with a converted try after 26 minutes. Austine Pope got the touchdown, battering his way over from 5 metres out, after a number of close-range drives at the line by his fellow forwards had been held out. The crucial score came 3 minutes later, when the otherwise strong Rams lineout malfunctioned, allowing Stortford’s loose forwards to burst away, with Alex Rayment making 20 metres into the opposition 22, where he found debutant, Mathis Dehauteur in support to gallop over close to the posts to give Cole an easy conversion. The home side refused to lie down, though, and having suddenly found a strong edge in the scrums, were able to exert considerable pressure on Stortford’s line, capitalising on an opposition error at a defensive 5m lineout to force their way over for a try to narrow the deficit to 3 points. This left 4 nervy final minutes for the visitors to hang on and, although failing to control possession, as they would have liked to do, they were able to keep play out of their own half, repelling intense efforts by Rams to find a defensive gap.
