Sat 28 Sep 2024
Before the game even started, Stratford were forced into a change as lock James Walton was struggling to breathe. This meant that substitute Angus Wightman started in Walton’s place on his return from injury, a welcome relief with Stratford still missing inspirational vice-captain Jonny Smith. Compounding matters Stratford were missing club Captain Tom Stanley, veteran No 8 Jack Young stepping into the breach.
Moseley Oak (MOAK) kicked off on a crisp day in the sunshine on the surprisingly solid pitch considering the rainfall we had seen in the lead up to the weekend, this was knocked on giving them a scrum on the halfway line. They won a penalty from the scrum and kicked deep into the Stratford half to build pressure from a lineout. After moving right then left and being shut down on every avenue, their 13 ran back across the pitch and the hard-hitting Wightman connected with the player as they were playing the pass.
This allowed Charlie Powell to pounce, intercepting the wayward pass, and run 80 m to score the opening try of the match after three minutes. Knowing how badly an attempted intercept went last week, it shows Powell’s positive state of mind that he is still willing to go for it. With the conversion from Nathan Geekie, Stratford were quickly 0-7 up.
MOAK hit back relatively quickly, although Stratford dealt better with the restart, the attempted clearance went straight out gifting MOAK a good attacking position. They pushed forward into the 22 and then spread it right through their backs before being brought down just before the try line, slightly to the right of the posts. Recycling the ball quickly, they sent it back to the right corner where they were able to touch down centimetres from the touchline. 5-7 after the missed conversion.
MOAK were invited back into the Stratford 22 after a fumbled highball was picked up by an offside player. Having kicked towards the corner they were only 5 m out once again. The subsequent driving maul was brought down, legally, and the ball was deemed held up over the try line for a Stratford goal-line dropout. Stratford were able to force a knock on for the next MOAK attack and then clear the ball to the 10 m line. Shortly after, and only 15 minutes into the match hooker Ben Cole had to leave the field due to an injury, seeing 18-year-old Jago Vialan thrown in the deep end, with the prospect of playing 65 minutes on his first-team debut against a very large MOAK forward pack.
Following the injury replacement, Moseley used a penalty advantage to kick for the posts, but their kicker pulled the ball to the left of the uprights. Stratford continually frustrated Moseley, winning ruck turnovers or forcing a knock-ons at the vital moments. From a lineout on the 22, Stratford spread the ball left with Andy Oliver swinging round to the left looking for work off of his wing. He took the attention of the centres and was able to offload to Lewis Mellor to break through the line and go around the 15 for Stratford’s second try in the corner. The conversion by Geekie sailed across the face of the posts and off to the right. Stratford now lead 5-12.
Stratford found themselves back in the MOAK 22 after Mellor caught the 10 with the ball and was able to pop it off the floor to Bobby Scott-Walker who kicked down into the corner, a 50-22, nonetheless. Taking a lineout cleanly, Stratford worked their way back infield and 4 to 5 phases later were sucking the MOAK defenders into the right corner. Spreading the ball back to the left, with the ever youthful, Dave Prichard hanging out on the left-wing, he was put in by Jo Cook. Juggling the ball at first, but eventually able to gather and score just inside the corner flag. Unfortunately, in this action, he injured his calf and had to come off with the score line now sitting at 5-17 after the missed conversion.
The second injury forced a reshuffle with George Fox making his way onto the pitch and taking up his usual role on the wing. Having started at inside centre, Nathan Geekie now found himself in the back row. Throughout the next 10 minutes, the game pattern became set with MOAK dominating the scrums and having the majority of the possession, but Stratford staying strong and keeping them out until around the 30-minute mark. When the pressure finally told MOAK managed to bundle over the try line on the far-left side after a few pick and goes. With the conversion they were now only five points behind, 12-17.
MOAK hit back again five minutes later, scoring in pretty much the same location through a driving maul after securing a lineout 5 m from the Stratford try line, having got there due to a penalty. The Stratford pack were having a tough day dealing with the size of the MOAK forwards, with some of them bringing sort of size you may be more familiar with attributing to Uini Antonio and Taniela Tupou, relatively speaking of course! This left the score at 19-17.
Stratford then came close, with a rare scrum penalty of their own getting them into the Moseley 22, they were held up over the line. From the goal-line dropout they continued to attack, proving their fitness late on into the half. Another penalty on the 10 m line presented Stratford with a lineout on the 22. The lineout was tapped back messily but scrum-half Tom Houlahan picked up and snuck through a gap at the back of the lineout, stood up the MOAK winger with a great step and cut inside the 15 to score under the posts. The half ended with Nathan Geekie converting the try and Stratford leading 19-24.
When the game got underway again, Stratford, as they had all of the first half, continued to frustrate MOAK, pinching the ball back with turnovers, holding players up or by forcing knock-ons. After clearing a defensive ruck turnover almost on their own line, Stratford had a lineout on their own 22 and the referee sent one of the MOAK replacement jumpers to the sin bin for 10 minutes for pulling down on the arm of the Stratford’s James Walton, who had come on at half-time after overcoming his breathing difficulties and being okayed by physio Beth.
Four minutes later MOAK were down another man after a well-executed three on two down the right wing saw Andy Oliver breaking free, he popped back inside to Walton, who with a number of support runners to choose from passed it inside again to scrum-half Houlahan. The MOAK player took him out before he had even gathered the ball, so had to be sent off. You could even argue that they may have denied a clear try scoring opportunity as Houlahan had already proven he had the skill and pace to beat the Moseley 15, who would have been hard pushed to stop him.
After winning a penalty at the ruck for holding on, then marching another 10 m forward due to MOAK backchat to the referee, Stratford had a lineout deep in the MOAK 22. It didn’t go quite to plan and from the resulting ruck Walton got caught on the wrong side and the referee sent him to the bin. For the next five minutes, the game moved between scrum and lineout but was mainly played in the middle third of the pitch. The only real result of which appeared to be the Stratford 10 Scott-Walker picking up an injury, though he continued on for the time being, and Moseley being restored to 14 men.
MOAK got the first score of the second half after around 20 minutes, having progressed into the Stratford 22 from a penalty centre field, kicked for a lineout and forced Stratford to touch down behind the try line, they had a scrum 5 m out in prime position. They continued the dominance they had been showing in the scrum and drove over to score. Despite this, the Stratford pack should be incredibly proud of the fight they put up against this constant pressure. The attempted conversion bounced back off the post and the score line was now 24-24.
Not long after, Stratford once again denied Moak right by the try line with another great jackal winning the penalty and giving them the ability to clear just outside the 22. By this time both sides were back to 15 again, but Stratford 10 Scott-Walker did succumb to his injury, and he was replaced, with Geekie now moving to 10 and Fox returning to the wing. MOAK became increasingly frustrated with the referee not, as they believed should be the case, binning any of the Stratford front row in the scrums.
When presented with a scrum penalty inside the Stratford 10 m line, MOAK did the smart thing and went for the posts seeing as the game was still tied. Thankfully, for Stratford, the kick had too much height and not enough distance and Cook caught it next to the posts and was able to clear to touch with just over 10 minutes remaining. Stratford then won the lineout ball against the head with a nice tap down after getting two pods up in the air. Sadly, the ball was fumbled in midfield and Moseley had another scrum in front of the posts in the Stratford 22. Two scrums later and Stratford lock Will Dobbin was sent to the bin with the referee deciding that he was the cause of the failed scrum attempts.
MOAK continued to pile on the pressure with the extra man, eventually scoring a try after charging down an attempted clearing kick. This gave them the win, 29-24 but Stratford also got two points, one bonus point for scoring four tries and a second for finishing within seven points.
The entire match day squad should be very proud of the performance they put in, especially to get the two points in the league table knowing that away wins will be hard to come by this season. Player of the Match went to Angus Wightman on his return from injury, but it was very much a team effort. No doubt there were some aching limbs next day having had to continually bring down some sizeable forwards throughout the 80 minutes.
Jago Vialan made it through his debut in trying circumstances, knowing that ideally, he would have been given 10 to 15 minutes and eased in gently, I personally think he should be proud. Both Stratford senior teams have a break next week and will be hoping for some players to return to their ranks the following week, when the 2nd play Silhillians at home on Friday 11th October and then the 1st XV welcome Newent to Pearcecroft the following day on October 12.
Stratford: 1. Geoff Dyson, 2. Ben Cole, 3. Michael Dawes, 4. Will Dobbin, 5. James Walton, 6. Danny Earp, 7. Dave Prichard, 8. Jack Young (C), 9. Tom Houlahan, 10. Bobby Scott-Walker, 11. Charlie Powell, 12. Nathan Geekie, 13. Lewis Mellor, 14. Andy Oliver, 15. Jo Cook. Subs: 16. Jago Vialan, 17. Angus Wightman, 18. George Fox
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