Yes, OAs were boosted by the presence of several Saracens' A squad players, but this wasn't a game in which Stortford were overwhelmed by the brilliance of the opposition, though the presence of players with experience at higher levels may well have been a factor in the way in which the home side so clinically exploited the visitors' weaknesses.

In the early stages Stortford's tackling was cruelly exposed, as OAs ran in tries after 7 and 9 minutes through some very fragile defending. The first came from a soft turnover and the second from poor defence around the fringe of a ruck. The latter became a feature of the game and credit to the home side for spotting this weakness so quickly and exploiting it so clinically. It was the home side's No 7, Sean Reffell, a force throughout the game, who first took the opportunity to break clear and untouched from the base of a ruck to feed his scrumhalf for the second of the tries, both of which were scored sufficiently closely to the posts to provide easy conversion opportunities. Stortford did remarkably well to rally from this double setback and scored a try within 2 minutes of OAs' second score, when the home side gave away a penalty almost straight from the restart and a kick to touch and a well-drilled catch and drive saw Will Roberts over for a try, well converted by George Cullen. One of a number of simple but very effective tactical kicks from flyhalf, Tom Coleman recalled from retirement to allow Cullen to move to 12 to cover a serious crop of injuries to centres at midweek training, set up position for an equalising try, finished off by a storming dash down the wing by Ryan Hutler. Cullen converted brilliantly from the touchline to level the scores. Stortford then enjoyed the better of the exchanges in the next 15 minutes, but were unable to turn this into points and another major turning point came after 33 minutes, when an OAs forward again was able to break cleanly through an ill-guarded ruck. A speculative kick ahead fell well for the home side, producing an unconverted try. Within 3 minutes, though the lead was narrowed to 2 points by a Cullen penalty for one of several scrum penalties against OAs. The under pressure home pack were undoubtedly relieved to have not been asked to scrum again, but the tough decision to take the 3 points looked to have been vindicated 3 minutes later, when the home side were penalised for a breakdown offence, but Cullen's kick at goal, which would have seen his side into the break a point ahead fell agonisingly inches short.

That was as good as it was going to get for Stortford, as further injuries and continued vulnerability at the lineouts in particular allowed the home side to dominate second half proceedings. The next score came directly from a lineout after 10 minutes, when impressive Sarries hooker, Tadgh McElroy took quick ball and swept round the back of the lineout to go over virtually untouched and close to the posts to make an easy conversion. Within five minutes the home lead was stretched to 14 points, when one of a number of fluffed Stortford lineouts - this time on their own 5 metre line - allowed OAs to crash over for an unconverted try. Stortford's cause was not helped by the departure of Dan Leo with an awful gash above his eye, necessitating the return from the bench of an injured player as cover but, nonetheless, the visitors did muster one threatening attack, from which winger, Chris Smith twice came close to scoring, but the second ended with him just being forced into touch. It was ironic then, given that a further injury to a Stortford player had resulted in prop Will Roberts having to return into the back row, that it was the home side who ended their travails at the set piece by invoking unopposed scrums, after one of their props was yellow carded for one of a series of team offences. What are the odds against the same side suffering an injury to a reportedly tactically substituted player to create the need for unopposed scrums in both home and away fixtures against the same club?! Unabashed, the home side stole yet another Stortford lineout close to their own 22 metre line after 35 minutes and inside centre, Reuben Bird-Tulloch took full advantage to burst through a gaping hole in Stortford's midfield defence and showed his tremendous pace to reach the line for another unconverted try, despite the attentions of both opposition wingers.