Sat 8 Feb 2025
The early exchanges were positive for Stratford, working through the phases and concentrating on securing their rucks before any jackals were attempted. Stratford went 0-3 up when a penalty on the Newent 10 was too good an opportunity to turn down the points. Newent brought it back to 3-3 not long after before starting to apply some pressure on the Stratford defence. A few penalties gave them a lineout on the 5 m line and eventually they drove over the line with a well worked maul which was set up from an attacking lineout following a penalty.
Despite this setback, Stratford continued to work their way through their phases and were proving a match for Newent, they were certainly testing the Newent defence. If not for a few mistakes at rucks they may have scored more in a relatively quiet half, points-wise. A further penalty conversion by Dan Whitby brought the score back to 10-6, and Stratford got the next score as well. Having had 5-6 phases until a penalty in the Newent 22 due to holding on, Stratford got the ball back just outside the 22 with substitute Ollie Pearson, who was on to replace the injured winger George Fox, collecting the ball inside the Stratford half and starting the attack.
Runs from full-back Jo Cook and 12 Whitby took Stratford across the halfway line, then carries from captain Tom Stanley and outside centre Andy Oliver moved them inside the Newent 10 m line. From here, Stratford attacked the blind side with Jo Cook selling a dummy outside to Ethan Cook before being brought down on the 22. Stratford moved the ball back across the full width of the pitch in 2-3 phases before long passes sent the ball back outside the right 15 m line. Quick thinking by scrum-half Jake Lowe, working with the experience of full-back Cook and Oliver put further pressure on the blindside and an ineffective tackle on Oliver allowed him to pop the ball back inside to Angus Wightman who was able to round two defenders and run in from 10 m out. Sadly, Whitby was not able to add the extra two points, 10-11 with 4-5 minutes left of the half.
Rather frustratingly for Stratford, the half came to an end shortly after Newent went back ahead scoring a try in the far-right corner, following some coast-to-coast of their own in the Stratford 22. A penalty on the halfway line had invited them into the half, and they continued to turn the screw, with the try coming after a penalty was taken quickly on the Stratford 5 m line in front of the posts and spread quickly to the right where a couple of forwards had been hanging out and used their extra power to drive over the line. 17-11 at half-time.
Stratford couldn’t have started the second half better, securing the restart before Geekie’s clearing kick was regathered by winger Ethan Cook on the 10 m line allowing them to catch Newent on the back foot. A strong carry by Sam James saw the ball then spread out to Oliver who got on the outside shoulder of his opposite man with an arcing run from the Stratford 10 m line to the Newent one, before toeing ahead to the Newent 5 m line. Fearing the worst, a defender took out Jo Cook before he had any chance to gather the ball, giving Stratford a penalty 8 m from the try line. Four phases to the left of the posts after a scrum option, saw prop Stanley smash over the line to put Stratford ahead 17-18, with Whitby adding the extra two points.
The next half-hour was not pleasant for the Stratford lads, even with the introduction of Jonny Smith from the bench, whose minutes are being managed, they were not able to stop Newent doing what one can only presume they have done to everybody this season, taking five points from most, if not all their matches. They scored two tries in a row, the first following 9-10 phases in the Stratford 22 after a break on the outside got them into that area and the second after taking a penalty quickly just inside the Stratford 22 and catching a tiring Stratford defence cold.
Things didn’t improve when Stanley went from hero to villain, an off the ball tackle saw him sent to the sin bin by the referee, a mad moment that didn’t help his teammates, trying to stop the Newent onslaught. The resulting penalty saw Newent score a try from a rolling maul in a replica of their first of the match, throwing to the back man in the lineout and getting the pod on the front foot. On another day, Stratford might have got the next try following a lineout of their own in the Newent 22, hooker Ben Cole threw to scrum-half Lowe at the front, who popped it back to him before it went back inside once more to Smith who ran in to score. However, the play was brought back by the referee ruling the initial pass back out to Cole to be forward.
A 50-22 by Newent that was then spilt centre field gave Stratford a scrum on their own 22 and, having been starved of the ball, they decided to keep possession and work their way out of the red zone. Having appeared to have achieved this feat, an attempted pop back inside by no 8 Wightman was gathered by the Newent number 9 who made his way from the 22 to the try line. The final Newent try of the period where Stratford were without Stanley came after a mismatched midfield found scrum-half Lowe trying to bring down the Newent prop who was able to make metres before drawing in full-back Cook and passing to his right for his supporting player to go in next to the posts. With all this done and dusted, by the time Stanley returned, Stratford were 50-18 down.
Aside from being a man down for a period of the second half, the most notable reason Newent were able to put these points on the board was the mobility of the sizable forward pack. As the game went on there were fewer dominant tackles from the Stratford lads who were tiring both physically and mentally. The game did finish on a positive note with university student Ollie Pearson running in from 30 m out after one of very few mistakes by Newent saw the ball go to ground drawing and attempted backs move out of their own half. The conversion by Whitby meant the final score was a little less damaging in appearance, 50-25.
Man of the Match went to Ben Cole, though no one ever really wants it when it doesn’t come with the big W! It was also another 80 minutes in the bag for youngsters Jamie Jones and Ethan Cook who continue to gain experience and confidence playing at this level. One negative might be that Stratford travel to Whitchurch next week without winger George Fox, if he cannot get over his injury and make the journey to the ground where he has scored many tries in the past.
Stratford: 1. Michael Dawes* 2. Ben Cole* 3. Tom Stanley* 4. Geoff Dyson* 5. James Walton 6. Sam James* 7. Jamie Jones* 8. Angus Wightman 9. Jake Lowe 10. Nathan Geekie* 11. George Fox* 12. Dan Whitby 13. Andy Oliver 14. Ethan Cook* 15. Jo Cook* Subs: 16. Zak Hamersley 17. Jonny Smith* 18. Ollie Pearson*
*Denotes a product of Stratford minis and juniors
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