1st XV 43 - 6 Wharfedale

1st XV  Wharfedale

Match Date:  Saturday 4^th October 2008

Match time:  15.00

Match Location: Home (Stourton Park)

Team:   1st XV

Opponents:  Wharfedale

League:   National League2

Result:   Stourbridge 29 Wharfedale 6

Half-Time:    Stourbridge 43 Wharfedale 6 

Teams:

Stourbridge:

Bressington, Hall, Barkley (Morris) Billig, Freeman, Higgins , Richardson,  Sturdy, Gerry, Rowland (George) Hughes, Dean, Knight (Parr) Cooper (Jordan) White (Homer).

Wharfedale:

Whaites, Hart (Mucalt) Hodgson, Bedworth, Malherbe (Simpson) Gray, Doherty, Fear (Hall) Hindle, Steel (Lovatt) Renton, Capstick, Allen, Cokell, Ball.

Scorers:

Stourbridge: - Tries : Barkley 3, Richardson 2, Billig 1, Bressington 1. Con: Bressington 4. Pen: 0.

Wharfedale : - Tries : 0. Pen:  Bedworth 2.  

Match Report.

Stourbridge made light work of the difficult conditions at Stourton Park on Saturday, producing a sparkling first half performance on the way to a seven try, 43-6 victory. From the kick off it was the visitors who looked the most dangerous in the opening exchanges. They were quickly a penalty to the good and pressing hard for a try when things took a turn for the worse.  Stourbridge full back, Ally Bressington, made an interception 10 metres from his own try line.  His pace carried him deep into Wharfedale territory, he showed great awareness of the chasing defenders, cutting inside and releasing scrum half Tom Richardson just before he was brought to the ground.  Richardson made no mistake and went over. Three minutes later a smart pick up and darting run saw Richardson register his second score to record a 12-3 lead. The move had earlier been kept alive by a fine ankle level catch by Ben Hughes.

Stourbridge were now in their stride and began to dominate the half and a period of strong pressure paid off when a fine inside pass by fly half Jon Higgins gave Stourbridge centre Ben Barkley the opportunity to burst through for his first try of the afternoon. Five minutes later Freeman was stopped just short of the Wharfedale line, Stour regrouped, play was switched the entire width of the field and Barkley went over for his second to secure the four try bonus point. In injury time Higgins was involved in some fine Stourbridge inter-passing that saw centre Adam Billig stopped very close to the line, they quickly recycled and Barkley darted through to complete his hatrick, it had taken him just 18 minutes.

Stourbridge had defied the windy conditions, keeping the ball in hand and demonstrating some excellent passing moves. The strong Stour defence, and Wharfedale errors, all added to the Stourbridge domination of the half and a 29-6 half time score line.

The game looked all but over at this point but many home supporters still have nightmare memories of five years ago. On that day Wharfedale overturned a 36-10 half time deficit to leave a stunned Stourton Park crowd surveying a 42-41 defeat. However, with the second half conditions in the favour of the home team it looked unlikely Wharfedale would be able repeat such heroics, and so it proved.

Despite having less second half possession Stourbridge defended with great vigour, containing the visitors to such an extent that they never seemed likely to cross the try line. The home side took the second half chances that came their way, adding two further tries. The first followed a superbly weighted chip through, of pin point accuracy, by influential fly half Jon Higgins, allowing centre Adam Billig to ground it for the score. The home side completed the scoring in injury time, Higgins again being involved, when his break set up Ally Bressington; he converted his own try to bring up the final 43-6 score line.

Such a fine performance threw up a number of contenders for man of the match; hatrick hero Barkley, his fellow centre Adam Billig, the ever alert scrum half Tom Richardson, or the entire Stour defence. However, for his impact throughout the whole game, fly half Jon Higgins has to be a major contender.

Stourbridge have quite a history with Wharfedale, they have 11 years in this division and we have 7. This makes our teams by far the longest residents in what is a very volatile and competitive division. Games between us have traditionally been high scoring and close affairs and again today, on current form, the teams looked evenly matched. Both had recorded just one win from four games and last week Wharfedale had almost won at that most difficult of venues, Redruth.  However, Stourbridge turned on the style and never gave the visitors any scent of success. Our travelling supporters are no doubt looking forward to the visit to the Dales at the end of January.