Cambridge 23 Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 16

Within 4 minutes of the start, Stortford found themselves 7 points down, when Cambridge ruthlessly exploited a single missed tackle to register a converted try, after a breakdown penalty kicked to touch - one of very many on both sides during the game - had taken the home side to within 10 metres of the Stortford line. The visitors bounced back strongly, but were unable to find any crucial chinks in a strong Cambridge defence, playing constantly on the edge of the laws. Eventually, from the third successive penalty against the home side, Tom Banks took the 3 points with 9 minutes gone. This score was quickly cancelled out, when Stortford failed to secure their own lineout ball shortly after the restart and conceded a breakdown penalty under their own posts. The visitors again rebounded strongly and launched a series of drives inside the Cambridge 22 and, having forced three more defensive penalties, the referee finally sent the home No 8 to the sin-bin as the first quarter ran out. With the aggressive Cambridge scrum now repeatedly convincing the officials that penalties should be awarded in their favour, ,they managed to see out the 10 minutes with 14 men relatively comfortably, without conceding a score. It was, nevertheless, Stortford that scored next, but this took some 19 minutes and, once again, took the shape of another penalty to Banks, after another period of sustained attacking, with Theo Dan prominent, had been contained by Cambridge. Yet again, though, Stortford were unable to prevent the home team from replying quickly, as a player, trying to run back the restart kick was all too easily isolated, allowing a Cambridge player, not for the first time to hinge over the ball to win a penalty, converted by Laurence Rayner, as the final act of the half.

Early penalties against Stortford soon put them back close to their line and it took some stubborn defending to hold the ball up over the line, as the Cambridge pack, reinforced by a number of backs drove quickly over the line. The relief was only temporary, though and three phases later the home side proved much more clinical than had Stortford in similar circumstances, managing to work half a gap for their 17, David Langley to force his way over for another converted try with 10 minutes of the half gone. The visitors battled back once again and, after a well-placed kick into space from George Cullen and a good chase by Nick Hankin and Josh Stannard, won a penalty inside the home 22, allowing Banks to add another 3 points after 16 minutes. Cambridge once again replied with a penalty goal of their own - this time from replacement flyhalf, Ben Penfold - scored after 27 minutes, when Stortford were penalised at a breakdown on their own 22. Shortly afterwards, a badly-skewed penalty kick aimed for touch from well inside the Cambridge half went dead and a clever crosskick from the resultant penalty was caught on the full by the home left wing, who made ground before kicking ahead, only to be tackled extremely late, resulting in a yellow card to replacement scrumhalf, Connor Mak, who had only been on the field for a few minutes. Cambridge opted for a scrum, but were penalised possibly for the first time in the match at the set-piece. Stortford worked their way back upfield and mounted their most concerted series of assaults on the home line. Cambridge were again penalised repeatedly inside their own 22 and in quick succession lost 3 players to the sin-bin, but leaving too little time for Stortford to have a chance of scoring the 2 converted tries they needed to level the scores. Their pack was, though, able to force its way over the line with barely a minute left on the clock and the conversion secured a losing bonus point to cheer the massive and vociferous travelling Stortford support.

Team: Hankin, Stannard, Winter, Ayrton J, Ayrton M, Cullen, Banks; Brownhill, Dan, Harrison-Price, Appereley, Thacker, Wilson. Ball, Kingham. Replacements: Petty, McCrone, Elsom, Keen, Mak.