Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 38 Taunton Titans 29

Stortford started strongly, forcing Taunton back inside their own 22, with quick handling and aggressive running and, when a penalty was won, Connor Lloyd took a quick tap and forced his way over for a try with only two minutes gone. The scrumhalf added the conversion. The home side stayed in the driving seat and showed their confidence by going for touch from a penalty under the visitors' posts but, having won good ball at the lineout, lost the ball in the resultant maul. Not to be denied, though, Stortford kept the pressure up and, although Lloyd was stopped inches short of a second try from another quick penalty after good build-up work from Jack Biard and Chris Smith, new backrow find, Austin Pope crashed over for a try with 19 minutes gone, again converted by Lloyd. Although Taunton looked threatening on occasions, the home side seemed well in charge of the game until an ambitious Stortford chip kick in midfield bounced badly and no 7, Charlie Wright seized on the ball to show an impressive turn of speed to burst through the spread-eagled opposition for a try after 25 minutes, comfortably converted by Louis Sinclair. This seemed to take the wind out of Stortford's sails and the rest of the half was played out with neither side really looking to add to the scoreline.

Taunton started quickly after the break and Sinclair narrowed the margin to 4 points with barely a minute gone, when Stortford were penalised at a breakdown. The visitors surged back onto the attack, but were thwarted by a strong turnover, allowing the hosts to work their way back upfield, where Fraizer Kiff forced his way over the line from the base of a ruck for a try, converted by Dan Cole. Within 4 minutes, though, the gap was again down to 4 points, when lightning-fast winger, Noah Fenton took full advantage of hesitation by Stortford's defence, when a Taunton pass fell behind their centres to seize on the ball and sprint round for a try. Two tries to the home side in the next 7 minutes, though, seemed to take them out of sight, with a penalty try, as a maul was driving at the visitors' line, followed by a touchdown by Chris Smith, leaping high to win a contested crosskick from Cole, with the flyhalf adding the extras. Taunton now ran with increasing threat and the home side played into their hands by failing to keep the ball tight, as a result conceding two tries. The second was run almost the length of the field and finished by Fenton and the first created by the same player, but finished by Wright again. In between, Cole notched a long penalty for Stortford for a scrum offence, but his team still had to withstand a final period of extreme pressure on their line, as the visitors fought desperately for a second bonus point. Showing typical determination and team spirit, the whole home side dug deep and eventually pushed the opposition back to seal a crucial win, on what was already a memorable day, marked by the extremely impressive pre-match recognition of Armistice Day.

Special thanks today go to Matchday Sponsors, Corporate Forward Finance and to Man of the Match Sponsors, BIT Solutions for their continued support of the Club. The award today went to Alex Rayment for his non-stop contributions both in possession and defence and some spot-on lineout throwing.