Sat 3 Oct 2026, 15:00
Leamington 10-45 Stratford
Stratford travelled over to Moorefields on what turned out to be a glorious afternoon of sunshine allowing plenty of running rugby. Largely the same squad travelled, with three changes from the previous week. The game got off to a slow start with poor handling preventing either team from making real progress, but with much of the action happening in the Leamington half.
The expectant crowd had to wait 15 minutes before the first score when Stratford finally broke through the Leamington defence. Enjoying scrum dominance, Stratford took a quick tap from a scrum penalty and worked the ball across the pitch from left to right, when no 8 Jonny Smith almost put his back row partner Jamie Jones in to score. Stopped inches short, the ball was recycled quickly, and full-back Charlie Powell put a right foot step on covering defenders to score 5 m from the post, 0-5 to Stratford.
Stratford moved further ahead when a Leamington discretion just inside their 22 allowed Seb Hillard the opportunity to kick to the corner setting up a fantastic opportunity for a driving maul. Successfully finding his jumper, prop and lineout thrower, Tom Stanley joined the back of a maul moving slightly infield at quite a pace to allow him to drop down and score. The conversion was missed; but Stratford were now 0-10 ahead with around 25 minutes played.
The half ended without any more tries despite the Leamington scrum-half trying to get his team going forward with occasional snipes and quick ruck ball. They got very close to the line on one occasion, but Stratford full-back Powell got over the ball and won a defensive penalty. Hillard had one memorable break from the halfway line after selling a dummy to his opposite man but could not time the pass for his support to get past the Leamington full-back. The score remained 0-10 at half-time.
Compared to the first half, the second was a relative try-fest with first team captain Gwil Davis scoring twice in succession. The first came after a Leamington clearance was caught short just outside the 22 and then recycled infield. Hillard ordered his players around him and out wide, stretching the play himself he received the pass and spread it to lock James Walton who managed to offload out the back of his hand to Davis. Getting on the outside of his man, Davis then carved his run back inside the full-back score under the posts and allow himself his first successful conversion of the day to put Stratford 0-17 ahead.
Davis’ second was a real team try, starting from a lineout, having guided Leamington across the pitch and into touch without allowing them any real progress. Stratford worked the ball straight back to the far left and Powell put winger Fox in down the wing. Once the ball was recycled it went back across the pitch and out to hooker Michael Dawes who proving as difficult as usual, beat two men and offloaded back inside to Davis to score under the posts. 0-24 with the conversion.
Stratford then suffered two setbacks, losing last year’s Captain Smith (replaced by Dom Wan) to injury and then conceding their first try, much to the joy of the Leamington supporters. Stratford were soon back at it again though with another two tries, a first 1XV team try for Hillard and a second for Stanley (a mirror image of his first). Hillard’s came after quick thinking which saw him scoop up an exposed ball at the back of a Stratford ruck around the halfway and run round/through the Leamington defence leaving them clutching at thin air.
With the game appearing to come in patterns, Stratford again suffered a couple of setbacks after this with starting prop Zak Amond withdrawn to the bench due to injury, being replaced by Mike Hickey, causing a slight reshuffle in the pack. Added to this, they conceded a second try, a flowing move which saw Leamington score in the left corner, to leave the scoreboard at 10-38 with no more than 10 minutes left.
There was however time for one more Stratford try, when a good restart allowed the Stratford forwards to strike. Jones tapped the ball back which bounced into the hands of Toby Mendes who drew his man and found Walton. The disorganised Leamington, defence trying to come together around Walton, was already stretched when he popped inside again to replacement Wan. Wan attempted a right foot step, and managed to pull it off, switching back left and leaving the defender stranded to run in from literally 23 yards.
Player of the match on the day went to fly half Seb Hillard having pulled the Leamington defence all over the pitch, caught out players with well executed tackles and dusted himself off from the cheap shots which followed, not to mention his try. Stratford’s Noah MacDonald also got his first minutes in the 1XV, not looking out of place when he did.
Next Saturday, 3 PM, Stratford are back at home playing Alcester, and the Colts are currently scheduled to play at home to Leamington on Friday night in 19:30 kick-off, so come down and support your local team!
Stratford XV: 1. Zak Amond* 2. Michael Dawes* (VC) 3. Tom Stanley* 4. Lawrence Birch* 5. James Walton 6. Jamie Jones* 7. Toby Mendes 8. Jonny Smith* 9. Dan Lewis* 10. Seb Hillard* 11. Charlie Billings* 12. Gwil Davis* (C) 13. Dan Whitby 14. George Fox* 15. Charlie Powell* (VC) 16. Dom Wan* 17. Mike Hickey 18. Noah MacDonald*
*Denotes product of Stratford minis and juniors
Other results: Keresley 2XV 46-12 Stratford 2XV; Leamington Spartans 19-22 Stratford Legends; Buckingham U16s 12-45 Stratford U16s.
