Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 13 Darlington Mowden Park 6

Played entirely in freezing fog that restricted a clear view of events to less than the width of the pitch, this hard-fought match was a trial of endurance for both players and spectators and, inevitably limiting the amount of detail that could be followed from the touchline.

Stortford had much the better of play in the first half, but were able to break a stubborn DMP defence only once, when Alex Rayment made a characteristic dash from the base of a ruck, running down the narrow side of the breakdown close to the visitors' 22 to crash over out wide after 3 minutes. Connor Lloyd made an excellent conversion, but the lead was reduced to 4 points 7 minutes later, when flyhalf, Corben Ollivent converted a penalty awarded under the posts for a high tackle after a scything break up the middle by Nathan Greenwood. Fraizer Kiff was yellow-carded for the offence, but his teammates not only prevented any further score by the opposition during the sin-bin period, but added 3 points to their own tally, with a Lloyd penalty after a good tactical kick by Matt Riddington and a strong chase put the visitors' defence pressure, forcing a breakdown penalty. DMP threatened again before the break, but good covering by Josh Stannard snuffed out a try-scoring opportunity, taking Stortford into the break with a 7 point lead.

The visitors dominated both territory and possession for much of the second half, as temperatures fell and visibility worsened. Stout Stortford defence was able to stifle any serious danger, but the thickening fog, unfortunately, obscured much of the detail from the touchline view. It was the home side that first added to the scoreline, with Lloyd kicking his second penalty, after the scrumhalf himself had made a telling dart up the middle with 45 minutes gone. At this stage the home lineout started to creak, making it hard to establish any territorial gains and DMP cranked up the pressure. Stortford proved up to the challenge, though, limiting the damage to another Ollivent penalty, with barely 3 minutes of the game left, when several quick driving phases in succession caught defenders offside under the posts. This brought the visitors a deserved losing bonus point, but was not enough to prevent Stortford leapfrogging them in the league.

Special thanks today go to Matchday Sponsor, the Hilton Group, who have also generously sponsored the Hilton Marquee. Thanks also to Nockolds, Man of the Match sponsors, whose award went to Luis Ball for his all-action performance on his return to the Club. Although due to have opened on the bench, an injury to Will Rogers in the warm-up meant the two switched places - so, hopefully, he’ll have shared some of the bubbles with him!