Sat 26 Oct 2024
This week Stratford welcomed Old Halesonians (Old Hales) to Pearcecroft, knowing they had been relegated from the league above, but by no means willing to roll over and accept another defeat. With the game underway and having a successful drive into the Old Hales half, Stratford proceeded to give a couple of penalties away for high tackles and offsides, inviting the opposition onto them. Strong Stratford defence thwarted the opposition for the first 10 minutes of the game, but a lineout maul clearing kick from nine Jake Lowe was charged down and Old Hales had the ball once again. Following this spell of pressure penalties saw Stratford’s Angus Wightman take a team yellow for a high tackle.
Having conceded on the far side after the initial yellow card penalty was kicked to the corner, caught, and driven on, sucking in the Stratford defenders to create the overlap, Stratford defended valiantly not conceding a second until 7-8 minutes later. This second try was essentially gained by similar means, creating an overlap, and stretching 14-man Stratford. Closer to the posts on this occasion, the try was converted and the score was 0-12.
A third was conceded in the corner once more after an Old Hales kick into the 22 wasn’t dealt with and enabled them to take advantage of the disorganised 14 retreating defenders, moments before Wightman was reintroduced, so the score now 0-17. Following this try, Sam James also came on for his first minutes since the second game of the season due to suspension, replacing the injured Will Dobbin who had been in fine form filling in for lock James.
Wightman started to make up for the time off the pitch by almost instantly winning a turnover in the ruck and allowing Stratford to kick deep into the Old Hales 22. Although the lineout went awry on this occasion, five minutes later they were back in the same position and gathered the ball, driving the maul on and on, all the way to the try line despite the defence’s best efforts, and allowing James Walton to open Stratford’s count. Vice-captain Dan Whitby added the extras on his first start of the season, giving the home crowd real hope with around 30 minutes gone.
Stratford then had a few good forays into the Old Hales half, and after two high tackles in a row, despite the second being head-on head and going unpunished, the referee was playing advantage for the first and sin binned the Old Hales no 8. In the period leading up to this, Stratford were more than a match for their opponents, but messy lineout work was holding them back. With Stratford desperate to make the most of the time available to them with the extra man, they took a quick tap penalty and spread the ball right, but the half was brought to a close a few minutes later after the referee penalised the Stratford backs for crossing.
With the second half now started, having been awarded a penalty by the ref for a Stratford player coming in at the side of a ruck, Old Hales finding themselves on the Stratford 10 m line decided to use up the time and took the three points available to them, leaving the score 7-20. Stratford went straight back on the attack though, with a scrum on their own 10 m line as dominant as they had been in the first half, they drove to the halfway line before fly half Nathan Geekie was given the ball, picking up from near his shoelaces, he popped it back inside to Andy Oliver who burst through the Old Hales defence only brought down just short of the 5 m line. Before this however, he popped off to Ben Cole who passed back inside for Geekie to round off the move scoring to the right of the post. Whitby added the extras once more bringing Stratford back into it 14-20.
The next Stratford action was not so positive, having charged down an Old Hales clearing kick forcing the kicker back to gather the ball right in front of their posts, Ben Cole saw yellow for getting his ruck clear out attempt wrong. Stratford kept the pressure on though and forced a penalty, successfully taken by Whitby just before the Old Hales sin bin returned to the field. Though a man down now, they worked their way back into the Old Hales half and tied the game, at 20-20, with Whitby once again delivering after Old Hales were caught offside.
With the score 20 all and last week’s narrow loss all too fresh in the mind, despite Stratford now performing better than that, Old Hales did get the next points of the game, making it 20-27. Stratford looked good overall dominating the scrums, but rusty with DoR Richard Pepperell unable to choose a consistent starting lineup. After working their way into the Stratford 22 on the back of a couple of penalties, Old Hales scored from the lineout from an off the top move allowing their lock to crash over from short range.
Not wanting a repeat, Stratford got straight back in it forcing pressure on the restart and eventually getting the ball back on the Old Hales 22. After working the ball right, scrum-half Lowe made the most of tiring Old Hales forwards and darted through from the ruck, unable to score himself Walton was on hand to receive a pass and get his second try of the game. Whitby did the honours once more, bringing it back to 27-27.
With just over 10 minutes left, it appeared this could go either way, with both teams capable of pinching the win if they could gain the upper hand and get in the ref’s good books. Stratford looked good with set moves off scrums allowing the backs to test their opposite men and substitute George Fox made inroads to the Old Hales half on one occasion before the attack came to an end. Having penalised Stratford for early engagement on a scrum, Old Hales attacked and with only five minutes to go Stratford received their third yellow card, substitute back row Dan Earp being penalised for a high tackle on this occasion, an all-too-familiar story in this game.
With the penalty already in the Stratford half, Old Hales kicked to within 6 m of the try line with intent to do much the same as the last score but this time with the extra man to boot. Stratford did stop this, turning over the ball at the lineout and clearing to 22, though still a lineout for Old Hales. The resulting maul was driven forward, and the referee started playing advantage for Stratford players swimming around the sides. Though this almost brought it to a halt, the referee allowed the maul to continue and Old Hales were able to eventually spin off to the side and touchdown for a game-winning score, with the failed conversion being the last action of the game.
Stratford were well in this, and if they can reduce the number of penalties and start to finish in many of the nearly moments, they should take your belief in the knowledge that they could win at least for the return matches with the six teams they have now lost to. Stratford still took a point from the league table, moving them back above Malvern, though nowhere near where they want to be. After a good few consistent appearances starting at prop, Michael Dawes was awarded Man of the Match pipping the other standout performances in the match already detailed above.
Stratford: 1. Michael Dawes, 2. Ben Cole, 3. Tom Stanley (C), 4. Angus Wightman, 5. James Walton, 6. Will Dobbin, 7. Zak Hamersley, 8. Jack Young, 9. Jake Lowe, 10. Nathan Geekie, 11. Bron Kitzel, 12. Gwilym Davis, 13. Dan Whitby (VC), 14. Andy Oliver, 15. Jo Cook. Subs: 16. Sam James, 17. Dan Earp, 18. George Fox
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