1st XV 10 - 0 Otley
| Match date | Saturday December 5, 2009 |
|---|---|
| Match time | 15:00 |
| Match location | Home |
| Team | 1st XV |
| Opponent | Otley |
Stourbridge Saxons 10 Otley 0 by Paul Smith
Tom Richardson’s eighth try of the season and some well-organised and solid defence brought Stourbridge a workmanlike victory over struggling Otley.
Difficult conditions greatly restricted both sides’ ambition and affected their execution. This resulted in an encounter that was more typical of this season’s dour international and premiership offerings, than the more entertaining fare generally served up in National 1.
However, winning ugly is sometimes a necessity, and repeats in the two matches that complete the season’s first half, will bring a highly respectable top six position at Christmas.
With a brisk wind at their backs, Stour struggled for cohesion through much of the first half. Understandably, positional changes at fly half, centre and full back impacted, but nonetheless basic handling errors and wrong options proliferated.
Midway through the half, after Otley missed their only kick at goal, Stour produced a well- crafted converted try.
Craig Richards made 40 metres down the left wing, and found Kurt Johnson running an excellent support line. As has often been the case this season, Tom Richardson popped up in the right place, and went behind the posts from 30 metres.
Otley’s back three countered dangerously in broken field, with former Leeds Carnegie winger James Twomey especially eye-catching; only a last-ditch tackle from Richardson, denied him an equalising score on the half hour.
The home forwards produced another dominant set piece display, winning a number of penalties, from two of which Stour declined wind-assisted kicks at goal, in favour of attacking lineouts.
Neither produced a score, and in a match that was destined to be both low scoring and close, the wisdom of these decisions appeared questionable.
The home side, now resplendent in Gloucester cherry and white,
produced ten minutes of excellent controlled rugby after the break, mixing options cleverly, and keeping possession.
A typically powerful Ben Barkley burst took them to within ten metres of the Otley line, and when his opposite number, Ben Hough, infringed at the ruck, referee Ed Turnill despatched him to the sin bin, and presented full back Jon Higgins with an easy penalty.
The remaining half an hour was dominated by Otley, who used the strengthening wind to pin Stour deep in their own territory for long periods.
The visitors piled on pressure, but well-organised and determined defence ensured that a clear-cut try scoring opportunity never came, even when Simon Homer saw yellow following a spate of defensive penalties.
Fittingly the pressure was finally broken by Johnson, who made a lively contribution in the unaccustomed no. 13 shirt. He hacked a loose ball 70 metres upfield, where Richardson was only narrowly denied a touch down by Mark Kirkby.
The veteran Coventry back worked tirelessly, always offering a ball carrying option to his half backs, as well as defensive solidity. In a week when his employers became the first English rugby club to enter administration for a third time, he was doubtless glad to be elsewhere.
Stourbridge: Higgins; Chance, Johnson, Barkley, Richards; Robinson, Richardson; Sturdy, Gerry, Lawrence (Baker, 61); Hughes, Homer; Rodley, Cooper, Pearson (Dean, 61). Reps – Keylock, Griffiths, Tennucci.
Otley: Georgiou; Twomey, Gill (Brown, 52), Hough, Kirkby; Murray, Depledge; Zeiss (Warner, 55), Steele (O’Donnell, 55), Blades; Parr (Denman, 14), Ball; Quinn (Stuart Costello, 60), Walker, Stephen Costello.
Referee: E.Turnill
Scorers & Times:
Stourbridge: Tries – Richardson (18) Cons – Higgins (19) Pens – Higgins (48)
Yellow Cards: Hough (Otley, 48) Homer (Stourbridge, 60)
Man of the Match: Kurt Johnson (Stourbridge)
