Darlington Mowden Park 26 Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 19

The visitors dominated the first 6 minutes in both possession and territory and were duly rewarded with an unconverted try out wide to Rob Duff, after repeated forward drives at the DMP line had sucked in the defence. Within 7minutes,though, the initiative had been lost, as Stortford were punished for a couple of pieces of poor handling by a clinical finish from the home side, with Vaioleti touching down and the immaculate Warren Seal converting. The same player added 3 points with 25 minutes gone, when a penalty was forced, as Stortford failed to deliver tidy ball from a defensive scrum. Neither lineout was functioning particularly well, but the visitors were punished severely for a poor drill inside their own half by some incisive running by DMP’s backs, which scythed through an unusually paper-thin defence for another converted try and a 12 point lead after 28 minutes. Stortford heads didn’t go down, though and they produced by far their most sustained piece of running rugby, going through many phases, before a half break by George Cullen and offload out of the tackle found Dan Elsom in close support to plunge over for a try, well converted by Tom Banks to narrow the deficit to 5 points. Unfortunately, one of several turnovers conceded far too easily by the visitors soon led to a further penalty goal for Seals, as Stortford were pinged for the enth time at a breakdown.
The visitors started the second half strongly, as they had the first and were rewarded within 10 minutes of the restart with a try to James Thacker. The second row rounded off a rare spell of cohesive attacking play, after Josh Stannard had made thirty yards, running back an uncharacteristically loose DMP kick to take advantage of the home side having been reduced to 14 men as a result of a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on inside their own 22 a few minutes earlier. Banks again converted impressively to narrow the gap to only one point but that, unfortunately, was as good as it got for the visitors. Stortford’s game became increasingly littered with mistakes and the home side proved that, on the day, their running game was much more effective than the opposition’s, putting their defence under extreme pressure. It was undoubtedly a relief to the visitors, when DMP twice settled for 3 points from Seal’s unerring boot, leaving the gap still only 7 points with 10 minutes or so to go. Duly buoyed, Stortford launched a series of attacks on the home 22. Unfortunately, despite some serious inroads being made, composure at crucial points was lacking and the home side was able to see the game out for a win that, on the overall balance of play, they had richly deserved.

Stortford: Hankin Duff, Stannard, Winter, Ayrton m, Cullen, Banks; Castiglione, King, Brownhill, Thacker, Lewis, Ball, Elsom, Kingham.
Replacements: Nel, Dan, Wilson, Walker, Keen.