Sat 13 Sep 2025
Stratford 22-12 Shipston
With both teams coming off the back of opening defeats and the Phil Salt Memorial Cup on the line, the local derby appeared even more important than normal. A bumper crowd, a feature of any home game against Shipston RFC welcomed the 3 PM kick-off.
Early on, with Shipston in possession, a try saving track back and tackle by Jamie Jones kept them out but they kept attacking until Stratford won a penalty at a later ruck to prevent any score. Shipston did however get on the board first, scoring in the right-hand corner after finding space out wide following an overthrown Stratford lineout. The conversion was missed, but they got themselves ahead, 0-5.
After the disappointing opening period Stratford hit back, working their way into the Shipston 22, they slowly sucked Shipston’s defenders in towards the ruck before passing the ball a little wider to Charlie Powell to add some speed and angle to the drive and force his way over to the line left of the uprights. Dan Whitley added the extras to put Stratford 7-5 up with around 15 minutes gone.
It was around this time that the heavens opened for a solid five minutes of torrential rain in which both teams should be commended for the lack of dropped balls. From there ensued a half which might have appeared to be uneventful, certainly lacking in scores as both teams squandered chances or were thwarted by solid defence. Perhaps later in the season these failed moves, having been well run, would have led to more points by the break.
Before half-time Stratford lost back row Zak Hammersley to concussion which saw promising young talent Toby Mendes enter the fray. Stratford really should have had another try, possibly under the sticks but unfortunately Whitby stumbled to the deck after a sidestep and wasn’t able to offload to his left where Jones was waiting unopposed. Half-time and the scores were still 7-5.
At the half Lawrence Birch was withdrawn with a back problem and replaced by Dom Leach both impressing in the 40 minutes they had on their first 15 home debuts. Shortly after half-time, Stratford went on the attack and but for the final pass (which went forward) executed a beautiful backs set move from right to left which left the crowd groaning and hoping they wouldn’t be ruing missed opportunities. Despite Shipston’s first half scrum dominance, Stratford started to hold their own so all that was left now was to tidy up the lineouts.
Shipston got the scoring underway in the second half, as in the first, but this time converting their try to move 7-12 ahead with roughly 30 minutes remaining. Shipston appeared to be making inroads through the Stratford defence with offloads or slightly ineffective tackles not bringing the man down.
At the restart after the Shipston try, Ollie Pearson (unsponsored) was introduced and sadly almost instantly withdrawn after he collected the short restart and then was hit in the back of the head by the shoulder of the Shipston player. Frustratingly, the referee didn’t notice this, and the game restarted with a scrum.
Stratford sought retribution and from a scrum on the right, 5 m into Shipston’s half they set another backs move into motion, pivoting off full-back Nathan Geekie, Ethan Cook the ball and threw a dummy to get step inside the final defender and run in untouched from the 22. Whitby added the extras to put Stratford back in the lead 14-12. Stratford kept the scoreboard ticking over when Whitby extended the lead, slotting a penalty from just inside the Shipston half following a high tackle, amazing many in the crowd who thought it ambitious, 17-12.
Having sustained a period of Shipston pressure, Stratford built an attack, started by a breakout of the 22 by Powell following a defensive turnover. Taking a lineout 5 m out the try line, where the next phase had broken down, and pushing forward, Stratford continued to test Shipston defence with the referee warning them on many occasions.
A Stratford scrum metres from the try line moved forward with momentum and fly half Gwil Davis rushed to the short side with centre Powell, outnumbering the defence and allowing Davis to dive over the line and put Stratford further ahead. Whitby hooked the conversion attempt but Stratford now lead 22-12.
With four minutes left for Stratford to hold on, they tested the patience of a coach by attempting to play out of their own 22 and gifting the ball back to Shipston. Thankfully they won it back again and were able to clear before the game came to an end after a loose Shipston pass went over the left touchline in their desperate attempt to get on the outside and earn themselves a losing bonus point.
Stratford XV: 1. Michael Dawes* 2. Ben Cole* (VC) 3. Tom Stanley* 4. James Walton 5. Lawrence Birch* 6. Zak Hamersley 7. Jamie Jones* 8. Jonny Smith* (C) 9. Jake Lowe 10. Gwilym Davis* 11. Ethan Cook* 12. Dan Whitby 13. Charlie Powell* 14. Ben Humphreys 15. Nathan Geekie* (VC) 16. Dom Leach 17. Toby Mendes 18. Ollie Pearson*
*Denotes product of Stratford minis and juniors
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