A determined B team squad took to the pitch against strong opposition this morning in the shape of Saracens Amateurs RFC B, and from the kick off showed that were not going to make it easy for the visitors. Stortford played some of their best team rugby of the season in the first half, defending strongly and attacking with purpose and were unlucky not to open the scoring when Ali M made a break down the wing but the feed from Dylan S was judged to be forward by the referee. The scoreboard remained unchanged until the 30 minute mark when, despite constant Stortford pressure, Sarries managed to finally drive through our defence to go 0-5 up. Stortford heads did not drop and an almost immediate response came in the shape of Henry C breaking through the line to score and Jacob slotting the extra 2 points over with his conversion. Unfortunately, there was time in the half for Sarries to run in another converted try to end the half 7-12 up.
The second half followed a very similar pattern, both teams giving their all in the centre of the park and making very similar handling mistakes, both teams denied tries after knocking the ball on over the line. Saracens stretched their lead with an unconverted try six minutes in to the half to take the score to 7-17. However, once again our lads rallied and after some good defensive work in our own twenty-two were able to put together a period of possession and a string of good passes enabled Henry C to break clear and make a perfectly timed pass to Ali M outside him to run in the try of the game, duly converted once more by the increasingly reliable boot of Jacob. Both teams had a number of further chances to either take or stretch their lead, Henry C adjudged to have knocked on over the line being the clearest opportunity to clinch it for our boys, but the score remained 14-17 at the final whistle.
A superb performance from Stortford which they should all be proud of, a few things to be ironed out at training but we move on to the next game, hopefully with increased confidence in each player of what they can achieve when they work as a team.
Star player for Stortford went Ali M for a strong all round performance, not only for his try and attacking runs but some great last gasp tackles. Coaches special mention has to go to Joe L though for showing great leadership in the pack, constantly barking orders to the forwards but mostly for being a total wind-up merchant to the opposition - without once overstepping the mark (well maybe once!).