Gravesend 7 Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 26

After a tense opening period, in which both sides made a series of unforced errors in the driving drizzle, it looked as if the visitors were squandering the benefit of a strong following wind. The game was about to enter its second quarter with no score on the board, when Stortford finally managed to string a series of phases together, following a tremendous run by John Stocker. Flyhalf, Tom Coleman capitalised fully on the opportunity presented and dropped a tremendous crosskick into the hands of winger, Jimmy Rea, who drew the final tackler before setting hooker, Declan Caulfield clear down the outside to touch down. Coleman made no mistake with the conversion to put his side 7 points in the lead. The previous stop start pattern of the game was immediately restored, however and the home side slowly found their own feet, based on the strength of their forwards' driving play. Stortford managed, nevertheless to maintain an edge overall and created one more gilt-edged scoring chance off a tremendous run by right wing, Joe Clarke, which, unfortunately went astray, as his final step inside to commit the fullback resulted in the sole support runner over-running the ball, leading to a forward pass. The home side, boosted by this let-off, drove steadily down the pitch and it took a great last-ditch tackle by Clarke to prevent a try in the corner, just before the halftime whistle.

Whatever was said in the changing room during the break - or was it just the warming effect of a cup of tea?! - seemed to galvanise the Stortford side into a period of tremendous fifteen-man rugby after the restart, which saw them totally dominate possession and territory for the next quarter of an hour. This was a great achievement in the conditions and totally prevented the home side from exploiting the strong wind now at their backs. A Coleman penalty shot at goal after 6 minutes of the half went narrowly wide from a difficult position, but his side continued to dominate and, eventually were rewarded with a try to fullback, Sam Winter. He pounced confidently on a difficult bouncing ball to dive over close to the posts after Stocker rounded off another period of impressive interplay between forwards and backs with a clever grubber kick in behind the tight Gravesend defence. A big momentum swing came shortly after, however, when a soft penalty conceded by Stortford at a ruck in midfield gave the home side a chance to find a long touch. From the resultant 5 metre lineout the juggernaut, which was the home pack were not to be denied and they forced their way over from the third or fourth driving maul for a try close to Stortford's posts after 22 minutes. This was duly converted to halve the ppoints deficit. As the visitors regained possession from the restart through a tremendous flying take from number 8, Mark McCraith, it seemed that his team were going to resume their stranglehold on the game. It took only one more penalty mistake though- this time for a clumsy obstruction, as the visitors attacked again - for Gravesend to drive the ball back into the opposition half. The powerful Gravesend pack set up a great driving maul from the resultant lineout and, having made some 15 metres downfield forced another penalty for collapsing the maul. This again brought Gravesend to the Stortford line and it took some really committed defence to keep the tryline intact, including one drive held up over the line. Eventually, a knock-on was forced on the attacking side. Stortford again drove their way patiently into home territory and effectively ended the considerable threat which the home side had presented, when Rea bravely dived on a loose ball in midfield, as a somewhat speculative kick from Stocker had been allowed to bounce. After some 38 minutes, Stortford registered their third try through prop, Adam Gelman, plunging over under the posts, after McCraith had been stopped only inches short after a great surge off the back of a 5 metre scrum. This had been taken in preference to a penalty kick, when Gravesend were penalised at a breakdown, following a powerful run down his wing by Clarke. Coleman made no mistake with the conversion, stretching the lead to 21-7. With tails now up, Stortford drove straight back onto the attack and set up their own driving maul well inside the Gravesend 22, which the home side could stop only by collapsing it. Their replacement hooker was yellow-carded for this offence, being the 3rd or 4th in fairly quick succession by his side in the red zone and, when Stortford again opted for a scrum, rather than kicking the penalty and the opposition chose to pack down with only seven players, the outcome was almost inevitable. Stortford's eight launched a tremendous drive and McCraith was rewarded for another outstanding performance with the pushover try, delivering the crucial bonus point for his side. Coleman's conversion attempt fell narrowly short, leaving the final score at 7-26, as the referee immediately blew for the end of the game.

The postponement of Dorking's potentially crucial game at Westcombe Park, meant that Stortford's five league points haul takes the team into a 2 point lead at the top of the table and sets us up for an exciting end to the season!