Sat 31 Oct 2026, 15:00
Stratford 79-0 Bromyard
This week Bromyard were the visitors, currently sitting at the bottom of the table and travelling to play top spot can be a daunting task, even without injuries, but that goes to show the spirit of many rugby teams/clubs! In glorious sunshine, Bromyard got the game under way and had some very positive early moments. Before they knew it, they had an advantage, Stratford lock James Walton sent to the bin for not bending at the hips and lowering his tackle height, getting his own eyebrow split in the process.
The Stratford team clearly decided this didn’t matter and after winning some ‘kick tennis’, and attacking the Bromyard 22, quick hands got them in on the left-hand side where centre Dan Whitby opened the scoring, dotting down under the posts to allow the easy conversion, 7-0. Not letting them off easy, Stratford got a second in quick fashion when winger Andy Oliver went through a hole on the left and a few phases later outside flanker Jamie Jones crashed over the line 5 m from the right corner post. The tougher conversion, missed, meant the score only grew to 12-0.
After Bromyard had spent some time in the Stratford red zone, choosing to kick for lineouts when presented with the odd penalty, they were unable to convert and may later have wish that they’d taken the points. No doubt having seen some of Stratford scorelines this season, I imagine they knew that three points here or there would probably not be enough.
Stratford scored another flurry of tries, once back up to 15 men when centre Whitby made a midfield break and was only stopped by a foot in touch in the corner. Bromyard cleared but from the resulting lineout a smart one-two combination saw prop Tom Stanley score by the corner flag. After this, a penalty to Stratford allowed flyhalf Seb Hillard to kick to the corner and set up a very promising lineout position for the Stratford pack.
With Stratford already dominating the scrum, the key for Bromyard would be stopping any maul from getting going. Though they prevented them all crashing over the try line, with everybody sucked in by the rolling maul, Stratford scrum-half Dan Lewis ran round the blindside and into score. Whitby’s kicking was being tested by his teammates, and he wasn’t having much luck from the touchline so far, missing again, the score sat at 22-0.
Bromyard then had the opportunity to attack the Stratford 22 after a penalty at a ruck and had some decent phases following it, with their more sizeable forwards carrying hard. However, when they spread it wide, a pass went awry and Stratford got the ball back. Off the back of the scrum, the Bromyard nine tried to go hard at Stratford’s Lewis, but he passed it to inside centre and captain Gwil Davis, who’d moved into fly half on this occasion, and Davis put a step on the Bromyard 10. He cut back inside the man and ran all the way into Bromyard 22, handing off the 15 as he did, before passing out one to his left to find his full-back Charlie Powell on the support line 2 score to the left of the posts. Whitby successfully converted this one and made it 29-0.
With Stratford’s front five causing havoc, the scoreboard kept ticking when, in a poignant moment, prop Michael Dawes got on the scoresheet to celebrate his 150 games for Stratford. From the previous restart, no 8 Jonny Smith and then lock Zak Amond, both made 10 m before the ball was spread wide to Whitby. Whitby committed the defence and popped right to Davis who, when he was confronted with the 15, passed it back to his left to Dawes who was able to push off a late tackle attempt and literally ran in from just outside the 22. Try converted, Stratford were now 36-0 up.
There was then a bit of a quiet spell with Bromyard having some possession and appearing to be a bit more stable in the scrum despite still struggling with the strong running from Stratford in the open field. Bromyard rebuffed Stratford’s next attack and then went on the on offence. With the referee awarding a penalty they were able to kick into the Stratford half for a lineout. A penalty at said lineout, followed by Stratford being marched 10 m back for backchat gave Bromyard a promising position.
They continued their attack, with Stratford captain Davis taken aside and inform there was a yellow coming if this run of penalties continued. But it just wasn’t Bromyard’s day, soon after this they were watching Stratford’s Smith pick-off a wide pass and run in under the posts from his own 22, a real test for his quadriceps on a return to action from a three-week injury layoff.
There was time for one more try before half-time, a second for scrum-half Lewis. From a ruck straight after the kick-off Lewis kicked the ball up over the top and it took a wicked bounce continuing into the 22. Gathered by winger Oliver, he tied the defenders in a knot an popped the ball back to Lewis who, chasing up his kick in superb fashion, got rewarded for it when he touched down to score. Stratford took a 48-0 lead into the half-time break.
Unfortunately for Bromyard, they were made to pay from the kick-off as chasing up, Stratford’s flanker James rose the highest to take possession of the ball. Three phases later with ruck secured and Stratford pivots Lewis and Hillard upping the tempo, Stratford went in right hand corner to score. Stratford running lines were forcing the Bromyard defence to bite in leaving them short at the crucial moment when Powell crossed the line to score.
To their credit, Bromyard repelled the next two Stratford attacks with crucial turnovers coming very close to the try line, they managed to push Stratford all the way back to halfway. Stratford chose this moment to make two changes introducing Elliott James and George Fox. From a scrum on the left side nearly 22, the ball was spread out to Whitby, who crashed into the Bromyard defence, sucking defenders in. When the ball was spread wide to lock Amond, he was able to bundle his way towards the try line. With the ball recycled quickly, a further two phases on the try line saw Dawes score his second of the match to make the score 60-0.
Bromyard fans would have been up off their seats from the restart, having secured the ball they moved it to centre field, and a slipped tackle allowed their player to burst through to the 22 and onto Stratford’s second line of defence. Ball recycled, they spread it right but when their full-back tried to offload the ball whilst being taken down by Stratford’s Fox, it went to ground and was kicked into touch on the 22. Bromyard continued their attack for a while but ultimately failed to make it count when it broke down with a forward pass. At the resulting scrum, Stratford’s final substitute Chay Pusey was introduced.
Stratford were soon back at it though, starting from a lineout in their own half, the backs put on a move making the most of the long passing range of Lewis, Hillard and Davis backed up by the speed of Powell. He got on the outside of his man and offloaded out the back of the hand to Fox who was able to bend his run round and stroll in under the posts from the 22. Whitby having been the battering ram in the initial buildup play, slotted the conversion to move Stratford out to 67.
Stratford continued to increase their lead, though with the tries slowing down in the second half despite Bromyard being forced into substitutions by injuries causing players to need to adapt to new positions on the fly. They had several players who were able to hold their own, but on occasion, as Stratford suffered with last year, you can only absorb so many hits before the defensive line cracks.
Stratford scored following a deep clearance by Bromyard which Stratford nine, Lewis, controlled on the floor with his foot before picking up and running it back. Going round one man he drew in the next defender and popped outside for winger Billings score near the right corner. With the crowd right over his shoulder, Whitby nailed the conversion from the touchline to move Stratford to 74 points.
Stratford’s Hillard put the final nail in the coffin following some bright Bromyard play, where they had managed to get an attacking lineout near the try line. Attempting a ball to the front, as Stratford had in the first half, it went wrong and Stratford were instantly on the attack. Five or six phases later, attacking from right to left, Stratford’s Oliver was set free by a pass on the halfway line making it to the 22 and tying up two defenders in the process.
With the ball secured at the ruck by Fox, Davis collected the ball and went left again tying up two more defenders and passing out the back of the hand to Hillard who had the pace to go round the scrambling defence, only being brought down as he went across the try line in the corner to score. Whitby missed the final conversion which would have seen Stratford go one point better than they did two weekends ago, but even still, the game finished 79-0.
Despite being one the only two backs who didn’t score on the day, Captain Gwil Davis was awarded player of the match having been involved in almost everything else. The combination of powerful running by the forward pack (and multiple backs) and a fast tempo meant that Stratford just had too much for Bromyard. Stratford now have a week off before a run of testing matches starting away at Manor Park on November 14.
Stratford XV: 1. Michael Dawes* (VC) 2. Dom Wan* 3. Tom Stanley* 4. James Walton 5. Zak Amond* 6. Lawrence Birch* 7. Jamie Jones* 8. Jonny Smith* 9. Dan Lewis* 10. Seb Hillard* 11. Charlie Billings* 12. Gwil Davis* (C) 13. Dan Whitby 14. Andy Oliver 15. Charlie Powell* (VC) 16. Chay Pusey* 17. Elliot James 18. George Fox*
*Denotes product of Stratford minis and juniors
Other results: Stratford 2XV 57-15 Banbury 4XV
