Sat 5 Apr 2025
This week Stratford travelled away to Ledbury, for the final league game of the season. Opponents Ledbury were battling not only Stratford but also results elsewhere to decide their fate. Ledbury started well and went ahead after sustained pressure in Stratford’s red zone, which occupied the Stratford forwards in the centre of the pitch, and therefore created space on the far left for their winger to go in at the corner almost unopposed.
Despite a yellow card for winger Ethan Cook from the restart, deemed to have taken out the Ledbury lock attempting to take the high ball, Stratford proved they would be no pushovers. From a Ledbury scrum on the halfway, no 9 Jake Lowe pounced on the loose ball and went right, with a behind the back pass to winger Andy Oliver.
This was then passed through the hands of lock Sam James, centre Dan Whitby and 10 Gwilym Davis, who was eventually brought down on the 5 m line, before three more phases and a Stratford try. Hooker Ben Cole took the ball from the final ruck and with help from his pack drove over 5 m from the right corner flag. The conversion from Whitby went awry leaving the score at 5-5.
Stratford went further ahead thanks to a penalty try to the left of the posts, though obviously the conversion is given anyway, thanks to persistent foul play by Ledbury in their 22. This score was then added to around the half-hour mark when Ledbury attempted to exit their half from a scrum, only to see an attempted pass off the floor go into the hands of Davis. He passed it out to Oliver who made the 45-yard dash without being brought to ground and scored to the right of the posts. With this try successfully converted by Whitby, Stratford now led 5-19.
Ledbury did get one back just before half-time following multiple phases from their forwards in front of the Stratford posts, resulting in a try outside the right post. Straight after half-time however, Stratford were scoring another try! Substitute Jamie Jones jumped highest and tapped back the restart to earn Stratford the ball and the chance to go on the attack. Four phases to the right, followed by four back to the left, moved the Ledbury defence quickly and allowed Stratford to make them pay.
Heading back to the right again, a forward pod led by lock Zak Amond occupied more defenders before a set move out the back, this time using lock Geoff Dyson as the dummy runner, allowed Davis to find Charlie Powell. Powell rounded his opposite man and used blindside flanker James Walton to sell a dummy to the winger before scoring in the right corner. This left the score at 12-24 with the wide-angle conversion proving too difficult for centre Whitby.
With most of the second half left, Stratford were looking good but Ledbury were determined not to go down easily and started to mount a comeback. Both sides had a further yellow card in a second half that saw Ledbury score two tries to lead 26-24, with the second try appearing to be one of the final acts of the match. However, on the occasion of full-back Jo Cook’s final game, Stratford were not done yet.
Though at this point, down to 14, from the restart Stratford gathered the Ledbury clearance and went on the attack. Though they were rebuffed on a couple of occasions, a penalty advantage allowed Stratford to kick to touch just outside the Ledbury 22 and slowly make their way closer to the try line.
This was helped massively by a break from James, pushing 10 m into the 22, before the ball went left to Amond who was stopped just short of the try line. Quick ball out to the left found hooker Cole who dived over the line to win the match for Stratford, 26-31, with the extras added by Whitby.
Elation for the Stratford players who will fully admit they hadn’t had the best of seasons, with the extra motivation to get a win for their full-back, Jo Cook. Sadly, it was quite the opposite for Ledbury who will now have to wait and see what happens in the other leagues around the region to know whether they will stay up or not.
Stratford: 1. Michael Dawes* 2. Ben Cole* 3. Tom Stanley* 4. Geoff Dyson* 5. Zak Amond* 6. James Walton 7. Sam James* 8. Angus Wightman 9. Jake Lowe 10. Gwilym Davis* 11. Andy Oliver 12. Dan Whitby 13. Charlie Powell* 14. Ethan Cook* 15. Jo Cook* Subs: 16. Oli Pearson* 17. Jamie Jones* 18. Richard Pepperell
*Denotes a product of Stratford minis and juniors
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