1st XV 51 - 20 Waterloo

With a visit from Waterloo, the team anchored at the bottom of the table, Stourbridge had the perfect opportunity to bounce back from last week's poor performance at Cinderford. It was an opportunity they took full advantage of, running in 8 tries to record a 51-20 victory and secure 5 vital points.

Stourbridge were on the offensive straight from the kick off and it was no surprise when Bressington caught a high clearance and set up winger, Martin Freeman, to open the scoring in the eighth minute. Stourbridge continued to dominate, adding two very well worked tries, one each for the second row pairing of Ben Hughes and Ben Griffiths, to establish a 20-3 lead with a little over 20 minutes gone. The first of the pair followed a break by Richardson that ended with Griffiths charging through the defence from 20 metres for a fine score. The second was just as impressive, a dummy and offload by Higgins leading to a barnstorming run to the line by Hughes.

Despite the 3 tries the home side had missed a couple of opportunities to add to their tally and instead of being out of sight they allowed Waterloo to pull back the deficit. The visitor's winger, Neil Kerfoot, went through untouched, perhaps helped by the home side defence relaxing in the expectation of the try being called back for a possible knock on. With Lynch converting and adding a penalty 4 minutes later Stourbridge, for all their dominance and possession, held just a slender 7 point lead as half time approached. However the home side were not to be denied and went to work again, adding two further tries before the break arrived. The first featured a flowing cross field move with Freeman on the overlap to collect his second of the day. The next score, deep into injury time, came about when prop Adam Sturdy barged over following a successful catch and drive 10 metres from the Waterloo line. Bressington converted and Stourbridge now had a far healthier looking half time lead of 19 points.

The second half followed a similar tale of Stourbridge dominance as they added 3 further tries. Five minutes into the half Sturdy emerged from a melee of bodies to go over for his second. Try number seven arrived ten minutes later when an inside pass from Richardson allowed Griffiths to also record his second of the day. Stourbridge twice went close before finishing their try scoring exploits in the 70thminute when centre Adam Billig was the first to reach a short chip from Higgins. With the game in its dying minutes Waterloo winger, Matt Williams, set off on an excellent run to score a consolation try, it was converted to bring up the final 51-20 score line.

It was welcoming to see an improvement in the Stourbridge casualty list with the return from injury of Rupert Cooper and Ben Barkley, both coming on from the bench during the second half. There were also two new faces on show. Paul Cox, who has made a handful of appearances for us previously, was on loan from Moseley and started in the centre. Ex- Waterloo hooker, Harry Collins, who has recently been with the Maltese squad, made his debut, allowing our usual starter, Ben Gerry to begin the game at number seven.

The eight tries, including some very well worked scores, were a big boost following last week's disappointing performance at Cinderford and should instil confidence for next fixture, a difficult trip to Tynedale. The pace then really hots up - December has us hosting home games against the two leading clubs, unbeaten Redruth and second placed Birmingham Solihull.

Although it could be said that perhaps our try count could have been even higher the main focus should be on the crucial five points we gained. The RFU plans for an all professional 12 team championship to replace National One are a near certainty - meaning 4 teams will be relegated from our league this season. Mid table is a very tight affair, we are in 9th place on 27 points, Wharfedale on 20 points are a place below us whilst Tynedale have just 5 more points than us sit in 5th place. The last relegation spot i.e. 11th place is occupied by a fast improving Mounts Bay on 18 points.

Stourbridge:
Bressington, Tom Hughes, Billig, Cox (Barkley) Freeman, Higgins, Richardson, Sturdy (Bristow) Collins (Cooper) George (Homer) Ben Hughes, Griffiths, Parr (Taylor) Gerry, Knight.

Waterloo:
O'Brian, Williams, Payne, Duffy, Kerfoot, Lynch, Anderson (McVeigh) Mcglaughlin, Ince (Gibney) Hall, Davies, Harrington, Groves (Nolan) Rylance (Aigbokhae) Bell.

Scorers:
Stourbridge: Tries: Freeman 2, Ben Hughes 2, Sturdy 2,Griffiths, Billig. Cons: Bressington 4. Pens: Bressington 1
Waterloo: Tries: Kerfoot, Williams. Cons: Lynch 2. Pens: Lynch 2.