Sat 6 Apr 2024
Stratford welcomed Cheltenham Tigers in the final league fixture, a reversal of the first fixture of the season away in Cheltenham. Both teams ran out through a guard of honour put on by the Stratford U11s and their opponents, a touring team, also from the Cheltenham area. Despite threats of a storm, there was actually glorious sunshine-the only downside-a very strong wind.
Stratford started fast and strong, with lots of phases putting pressure on the Cheltenham defenders. A couple of penalties got them into the Cheltenham half but a knock-on denied a sure try in the left corner. The Cheltenham clearance put Stratford back in their own half with a lineout on their right side. Clean ball and well timed passes, spread across the backline, allowed Charlie Powell to go around the outside centre and inside the winger before being brought down. A quick ruck and accurate passing back across the opposite way found the waiting Jack Young who achieved the same feat as Charlie down the other flank, making use of his winger to cut inside and go in untouched from the 22. 5-0 in the right-hand corner, with the conversion blown wide.
The next 10 minutes passed without much incident but were very positive for Stratford with Jake Lowe ducking under a tackle from the restart and evading a few more before being bought down. Another highlight was a misplaced pass after a Cheltenham lineout in Stratford’s half which Dan Whitby pounced on and almost got away but for a last-minute tap-tackle. Cheltenham had a chance of their own following a well-executed backs move, but Powell pushed in hard and rushed the pass, causing the Cheltenham winger to knock-on into touch.
Stratford were able to add to the points tally when they were presented with a scrum on the Cheltenham 10 m line. The backs spread the ball and Powell found Tom Houlahan cutting in tight to progress just over the 22, from there Stratford kept most of the Cheltenham defenders to the left of the posts with another 8-9 phases, before sensing an opportunity back the other way Jack Young took the pass and committed a few defenders just to the right of the post before offloading to Gwilym Davies, who was able to touch the ball down. 10-0 conversion going wide despite being held still in the wind by the fingertip of the try scorer.
Both teams continued to attack with free-flowing rugby, but were being rebuffed by resilient defence, Cheltenham made their way into the Stratford 22 via a penalty, but Stratford got the ball straight back due to crossing in the lineout, they got as far as the Cheltenham 10m line before a knock-on in contact. Cheltenham had the next chance when their 12 managed to scythe through the Stratford centre pairing, almost making it around winger Tony Yates, before being brought down and knocking on just short of the line, a literal try saver.
The next major action was the sin bin of Nathan Geekie, who had perhaps been watching a bit of NRL in the morning, making a huge dominant tackle which he would have gotten away with in seasons past. This invited Cheltenham onto Stratford, with the extra man, and Stratford were unable to hold out. A couple of penalties, with the scrum opted for, drawing in the forwards and making the most of the extra man allowed Cheltenham to go in on the far-right side, converted for 10-7, not long before half-time. Stratford weathered this period well, despite having fewer men, even creating a few chances themselves.
Although Stratford started the second half in a similar fashion to the first, with the forwards bruising their way through the Cheltenham defence and Zak Amond almost crossing the line after collecting the ball at the back of a long lineout throw, Cheltenham crossed the whitewash first. Following sustained attack from Stratford, Cheltenham broke away and got down the left side to be denied right in the corner. They made the most of this field position, drawing Stratford left and right before going in for the try in the left corner, 10-12 with roughly 10 minutes gone.
Stratford dominated the next 20, with Gus Wightman opening his account for the day 5m from the left corner. This was a result of a dominant scrum on the Cheltenham 22 followed by penetrating runs from the Stratford backs, the ball was then spread back to the left and lock James Walton committed two defenders before offloading to Wightman, allowing him to score. The conversion was missed once again, despite getting closer with every attempt, but Stratford were back in front, 15-12.
A strip in the tackle from Tom Stanley set Stratford on the path towards their next try, scored by Tony Yates. After the aforementioned turnover Geekie pulled off a 50-22 to give Stratford great field position. A successful lineout led to a scrum penalty, and a multiphase progression saw Stratford awarded a 5m scrum in front of the left upright. The ball was spread left and Whitby drew in the defenders and offloaded to allow Yates to score in the corner, 20-12.
The final Stratford try for Tom Houlahan was started by a scrum penalty against the head for Stratford, which buoyed the large support. The resulting lineout was taken and driven on before multiple phases from left to right wore down the Cheltenham defence and allowed Houlahan to crash over, 25-12.
Cheltenham hit right back after this scoring to the right of the posts, a penalty from the kick-off got Cheltenham a lineout in Stratford 22 before they spread it wide and their centre was able to offload to allow the try to be scored. 25-19 with the conversion.
The last five minutes were quite tense with fears that Stratford may be made to rue missed try conversions but they dug in and made it to the final whistle. Man of the match went to Captain Tom Stanley, as usual working hard and rallying his fellow forwards. Despite the tries going mainly to the backs, a lot of the opportunities they were presented with were built on the hard work of the forward pack.
Stratford’s 2nd XV was also playing at home against Cheltenham Tigers 2nd XV-though neither team actually had 15! Unfortunately, they weren’t able to pick up the win, but battled hard, nonetheless.
The Stratford/Claverdon Colts picked up a convincing 31-17 away win at Harbury, a very positive performance towards the end of the season having personally seen how strong that team can be when the Colts only just held on to secure a draw in the reverse fixture earlier in the year. POTM went to Sam Morris, for determined tackling and quality running.
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