Friday 10th & Saturday 11th February

The Stourton Park Ale Festival. Come down and enjoy a selection of locally brewed real ales and guest ciders. The Ale Festival will run from midday to midnight on Friday 10th and Saturday 11th February.


Bewdley Brewery
Worcestershire Way
3.6%
Pale straw colour, First Gold, Celeia & Fuggles hops. A very refreshing session beer with citrus aftertones.
SPONSORED BY WILSON COVERS

Bounds Scrumpy Dry
4.8%
Real Cider, cloudy and golden in colour. Crisp, still, dry, fruity, traditional cider with good all round qualities that make it an easy to drink cider
SPONSORED BY THE MAMBLE GROUP

Broughs Brewery
Pale Ale
4.8%
Hoppy pale ale with a pleasant lingering bitter taste.
SPONSORED BY PHOTOBOOTH.CO.UK

Enville Brewery
Enville Ale
4.5%
A traditional beekeepers ale, pale yellow, a fruity bitter with an initial sweetness progressing to a complex dry hoppy taste based on an old nineteenth century recipe.
SPONSORED BY TUDOR FOX

Enville Brewery
Ginger Ale
4.6%
Produced using root extract ginger this ingeniously created ginger beer has a flavour which is not overpowering and is very refreshing.
SPONSORED BY ENGINEERING SERVICES CONSULTANCY

Enville Brewery
Cherry Blonde
4.2 %
A light blonde bitter delicately infused with essence of Cherry to produce a Belgium style fruit flavoured beer. The aroma and taste surpass expectation whilst the bitter finish is dry, hoppy and refreshing.
SPONSORED BY STOURBRIDGE LIONS RFC

Hobson's Brewery
Best Bitter
3.8%
Pale brown to amber medium bodied beer has a strong hop character. It's a bitter but with unconventional warm tones of malt that lingers on the palette, the complex malty flavours gives richness, balanced by the clean hoppy finish.
SPONSORED BY RUSKIN MILL GLASSHOUSE COLLEGE

Jennings Brewery
Cocker hoop
4.6%
A golden bitter from an all malt brew, with Styrian Golding hops added at various stages, to give a classic hop flavour and aroma.
SPONSORED BY CHALKBOARDS UK

Marston's Brewery
EPA
3.6%
Hoppy and zesty. Brewed to be an easy drinking flavoursome beer. It's a refreshing, lighter blonde ale.

Purity Brewery
Mad Goose
4.2%
Brewed with Maris Otter Malt, Caragold and Wheat Malt with Hallertau bittering hops and Cascade and Willamette aroma hops. Light copper in colour with a great zesty hop character with citrus overtone
SPONSORED BY PESTEX

Ringwood Brewery
Old Thumper
5.6%
Balance of grain and hop in the mouth, bitter sweet finish with delicate fruit notes. Warm, rounded yet surprisingly delicate pale strong beer.

Salopian Brewery
Lemon Dream
4.5%
A wheat beer very much in the modern English style - served bright and top fermented. The recipe uses a small amount of fresh lemon to compliment the citrussy flavours produced by the wheat malt. Each of the Hops used, Goldings, Saaz and Cascade add fresh lemony flavours to the brew.
SPONSORED BY AUTOMAIL ENVELOPES

Salopian Brewery
Shropshire Gold
3.8%
Golden, with a flora aroma and a full hoppy flavour that is balanced by a crisp dry maltiness and a rich finish.
SPONSORED BY BIOENERGISER

Sarah Hughes Brewery
Dark Ruby Mild
6%
This strong, absolutely black ale has a good balance of fruit and malt on the palate leading to a pleasant, lingering finish.
SPONSORED BY PAUL WHITE ELECTRICS

Sarah Hughes Brewery
Sedgley Surprise
5%
A bittersweet, medium bodied, strong hoppy ale with evident malt flavours
SPONSORED BY THE PRESIDENT

Three Tuns Brewery
1642
3.8%
A golden bitter with light maltiness, comprising nutty and coffee flavours, leading to a refreshing medium/strong, spicy bitterness with a long-lingering finish
SPONSORED BY HARRIS BUTCHERS

Westons Cider
7.2%
Strong, Sweet and not for the feint hearted. Exclusively supplied by the cider House, Quatt.
SPONSORED BY STOURBRIDGE GREYHOUNDS RFC

Wye Valley Brewery
HPA
4%
Locally grown Target and Styrian Goldings hops play an important part in making this such a distinctive beer. With Maris Otter pale malt and malted wheat also being used
SPONSORED BY THE EX-PRESIDENT

Wye Valley Brewery
Butty Bach
4.5%
Brewed using Maris Otter and Crystal malts, flaked barley, malted wheat, and locally grown Fuggles, Goldings and Bramling Cross hops.
SPONSORED BY STOURBRIDGE GRASSHOPPERS RFC

ALL TRAINING CANCELLED

Please note that ALL training is cancelled this week (6th - 11th Feb). This will be reviewed on Friday night with a view to the weekend's games.

Lions v Sleaford - 11th February.

The Lions will try and gain their place in the Final of the Midlands stage of the National Cup next Saturday (11th February) with a home semi-final against Sleaford.

The Lions booked their place in the semi-final by beating Old Leamingtonians in the quarter-final, 9-7, with a last minute penalty from Ben Trinham.

Following the disappointment of losing points in the league, the Lions came back into form last week with a 5 try thrashing of Willenhall, 42-7, in the league, with notable performances from Jim Owen, Adam Bowser, Dan Shrimpton and Harry ‘Sunshine' Wainwright to name but a few.

The Lions now lie 8th out of 12 in their league and will be very strong contenders for the title next year. They are also into the quarter final of the North Mids Shield.

Please come down and give the local boys all of your support and drown out the expected large number of travelling support, in what not only promises to be some fantastic rugby and a great day out for all, but is also in the middle of the Stourton Park beer festival.

Let's get Stourton Park rocking!!!!

Stuart Doolittle.
Lions Captain.

Stourbridge Saxons 19, Ealing Trailfinders 31

STOURBRIDGE effectively let this game slip away from them in the first half after second placed Ealing were allowed to build a 21-0 lead at the break.
Early promise failed to provide Stourbridge with any points before they were clinically punished for a string of unforced errors.
The Saxons should have taken the lead but fly half Chris Reakes failed to slot over a drop goal attempt after five minutes.
Winger James Hearn then tried his luck with a long range penalty from just inside Ealing's half only for the kick to fall agonisingly short.
Having been penned inside their own half, Ealing were able to take advantage of a knock-on by prop Andi Lawrence, where they effectively flung the ball wide for winger Phil Chesters who chased his own kick-ahead to gather and score in the 17th minute, fly-half Ben Ward kicking the extras.

Full match report by Nick Pullen (Write Angle Media)and photos by Richie Laurent can be found via the Saxons Fixtures tab.

John Sanders - Funeral Arrangements

John's funeral is to be held on Wednesday 25th January 2012. A service will be held at 11.30am at St James's Church, Wollaston, Stourbridge, DY8 3PY, followed by a private interment in Stourbridge Cemetery. Light refreshments will be available afterwards here at Stourbridge Rugby Club.

Family flowers only please with donations, if desired, for Help for Heroes. A memorial page has been set up at the following link, where donations can be made online:
http://www.bmycharity.com/JohnVSanders


For those of you who are that way inclined you will find a Facebook Page, set up in John's memory ('Face Ache' as he called it), at the following link:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/John-V-Sanders-RiP

Saxon News & Game Preview - 12th January 2012

Happy New Year to all of our supporters, sponsors and far away friends who take the Saxons News.

The tough challenges that face us for the remaining 12 games in National 1 are spread over a 4 month period in anticipation of the winter hard frosts as we hit the traditional colder months of the season, although thus far, we seem to have circumvented the cold spell and even spring flowers are appearing!

We finished our home games in 2011 with a good win over Coventry and our first home game of 2012 sees us locked in a basement battle against a new-look Bees, who are now beginning to resemble the Championship side of last season.

You only have to contrast the form of the 40-0 thrashing they endured before Christmas at Cinderford, to the thumping they dished out to 'in form' Wharfedale last weekend, to see the evidence.

The addition of current England Sevens players Chris Brightwell and Simon Hunt, together with the inclusion of Rob Connelly, Mark Hopley and Anthony Elliot certainly shows Bees intention to escape the drop. Matt Long also returns from long term injury and former Saxons players Mark Woodrow and Joel Dudley will add further strength to their pack and halfbacks respectively.

However, I am sure the Bees players, and in particular those recently departed, will be looking at Robinson, Wordley, Hughes, Hurrell, Barkley, Bressington, Williams and Jarvis with slightly more concern!

The Saxons had less of a productive weekend than our neighbours when they travelled to Blackpool, together with a rehashed pack. Prop Andi Lawrence was in the row and two of our locks, Hughesy and Nile played in the back row!

Although we struggled in the first half with Fylde's offloading game and some below par tackles, we 'slammed' into them for the entire second half. All concerned with the Saxons were very disappointed not to come away with at least a losing bonus point; the reality is it should have been more!!

The Fylde supporters and Northern press appreciated our attacking game, however compliments don't bring league points, so we have been very critical of our errors.

Some of the players had expected to carry on where we left off against Coventry in the first 40 minutes and fingers have been pointed at individual errors. To achieve success we have to be harsh on ourselves and learn from our mistakes. There is simply no respite in this season and we have agreed as a squad that every point must be fought for.

I have no doubt whatsoever that this Stourbridge squad is now battle hardened and together with the rest of the Saxons staff we were very proud of our second half performance at Fylde, winning it 15 - 10 despite the odds being against us.

Some sad news from the Fylde game was that we lost Joe Reid to a serious knee injury. Joe, who despite a very promising start to his Stourbridge career, it appears, may be sidelined for the remainder of our season.

A stiff challenge lies ahead of us on Saturday despite the strengthening of our rivals, however rest assured we are 100% ready for the challenge. Nothing I have seen, despite the bigger purses of some of our opposition, is beyond our players and there is a real buzz (no excuse for the pun) about the Bees coming to Stourton Park.

We have shown in our recent games that we are at our best under pressure and want to ensure a double over our nearest rivals!

We sit, as do Bees, in the relegation zone and Saturdays clash aside, Russell Earnshaw and I have one eye on the teams currently sitting in the spots occupied directly above us.

Cinderford entertain 'out of sorts' Ealing this weekend and Wharfedale are at home to Blackheath, who were defeated by the foresters at the Rectory field last weekend. With Sedgley unexpectedly beating Coventry away last weekend, the fixture today is vital to stay in touch with the pack!

The home support in spite of our poor start to the campaign has been excellent so far this season and the atmosphere at the Coventry game was electric. Our last two outings ensured that 'Fortress Stourton' was being established.

Today is a big match for both teams, regardless of the obvious appeal of a local derby. The contest is receiving a great deal of interest in the West Midlands papers and local radio and I anticipate that Bees will come well supported.

I therefore implore you to come and support the Saxons this Saturday. Bring a friend, the wife, or even someone else's wife and really get behind the boys for this West Midlands battle.

It's a HUGE game and we need HUGE home support!!!

See you Saturday

Mitch

John Sanders

We are sad to report that John died last night, after a short illness. A life member and long-standing stalwart of the Club, our thoughts are with his wife, Eileen, and family.

2012 Kicking Off In Style

There's a great start to 2012 this Saturday (7th January) when we have four games at home.
Colts v. Moseley KO at 12:30
Lions v. Wolverhampton KO at 14:15
Lions IIs v Evesham IIs KO at 14:15
Lions IIIs v Evesham IIIs KO at 14:15

The Saxons travel away to Fylde (FY8 4EL) with a 15:00 KO.

Wishing all the members, supporters & players of SRFC a very happy and successful New Year.

Stourbridge Saxons 20-12 Coventry

A committed and well-organised display, led by a massive performance from former Cov favourite Robbie Hurrell, brought Stourbridge a first win over their Midlands' rivals.

The Saxons outscored the visitors by three tries to two, to claim a third win in four games, and four vital points that boost their hopes of avoiding the drop. They now enter the post-Christmas period with genuine momentum, and will doubtless target maximum returns from a sequence of winnable-looking home fixtures to push them towards safety.

The full match report from Paul Smith (Write Angle Media) and photographs from Richie Laurent can be found via the Saxons Fixtures tab.

AGM 2010

Please be advised that the AGM of the Club will be held at Stourton Park on Thursday July 8th 2010, commencing 8pm prompt.