Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 21 Rams 11

In wet and windy conditions, this was always going to be a game dominated by two strong defences and so it transpired, with the only scores of the first half coming from two penalties to Stortford flyhalf, Brad Burr. Both came from errors forced by Stortford's strong tackling, as the visitors tried to run the ball out of defence. The first came after 20 minutes, following a good tactical kick by Brad Burr and the second, 8 minutes later came from a threatened turnover, when Dan Elsom got his hands on the ball at a tackle, as the visitors tried to run out of defence. Both opportunities arose only because Stortford refused to have the weather conditions dictate the pattern of the game, producing some outstanding handling in the conditions, as they persisted with playing ambitious rugby, despite the inevitable occasional errors. In fact, the visitors, sticking to a much more limited, largely forward-orientated game plan - arguably better suited to the tricky conditions - made more handling errors in the face of Stortford's blanket defence.

The second half was much more eventful, with Rams halving the deficit within a minute of the restart, when Stortford failed to release at a tackle almost under their post. Louis Ellis made no mistake from the tee but, within 2 minutes the home side had extended their lead via a try out wide to Baxter Wilson, as the ball, once again, was moved quickly about the field. Burr's conversion attempt fell just short and it was the visitors' turn to ramp up the pressure, as they showed some rare ambition in moving the ball quickly across the field, forcing a penalty at a breakdown in front of Stortford's posts. This left Ellis with an easy task to double his side's points. With the visitors' pack briefly totally dominant at the scrum, following front row personnel changes, Rams applied considerable pressure to the Stortford line, but tremendous defence against scrum and attacking lineout eventually lifted the siege via a breakdown penalty. The home side then enjoyed their own period of concerted pressure on the opposition try line but, despite going close to a score a couple of times, eventually a Stortford forward got isolated and Rams were quick to get in over the ball and force their own penalty with some 10 minutes left to play. The visitors were unable to escape their own half, though and an immediate counterattack from one of a number of lineout steals from James Apperley put winger Josh Stannard one on one against his opposite number. He showed his power to break a strong tackle and drew the cover defence across, before, finding James Ayrton in close support on the inside. The pacey centre did the rest, sprinting in from the 22 for an excellent try. Burr coolly slotted the conversion to stretch the home lead to 12 points on 72 minutes, but this was cut to only 7 within a minute, when replacement scrumhalf, Jack Moates caught Stortford's defence uncharacteristically flat-footed around the base of a ruck to scoot clear and burst into the home 22. Two quick phases were enough to see winger, Conor Corrigan in for a try and Ellis was unlucky to see his conversion attempt bounce out off a post. Continuing the see-sawing pattern of the second half, it was now Stortford's turn to batter again at the opposition line, as their forwards drove time after time to within inches of a game-clinching try. Rather than risk another crucial turnover, though, Burr took charge and, stepping back into the pocket, comfortably slotted a rare drop goal to establish a 10 point lead, putting the visitors out of bonus point range. There was just enough time left for the game to be restarted, but Stortford's midfield defence held tight and a knock-on brought the game to an end for a well-deserved home victory.

The NFU Mutual Man of the Match award went to Brad Burr, in recognition of the calm, controlling influence he had exerted over much of the game, in particular, building attacking pressure with some well-judged chip kicks and winning the territorial battle overall with telling positional kicks. This important win was, though, the result of tremendous efforts by the whole squad, showing great determination throughout and impressive intensity to make so few handling errors in the difficult conditions. Well played, boys!