Stour leave it too late

The hosts finished the stronger as their pack got the upper hand and their opponents shipped yellow cards to desperate acts of goal-line defence, but Stour were left to rue their failure to turn pressure into points during a lacklustre first hour which saw them butcher numerous tryscoring opportunities.

With both James Otutaha & Sam Wilkes back from paternal duties the Stour lineup was much changed from the makeshift arrangements at Wharfedale. The midfield selection was all-change, with Rod Petty starting at outside half and the recalled Joe Bridger joining Otutaha in the centre. Mark George & Jack Lea were back in the front row, the bench featuring rare appearances for Damian Webb & Robbie Hurrell. The heavy Stourton Park surface was showing the effects of the midweek British Police v Army game as Stour kicking off playing into a deceptively fresh Southerly breeze.

Stour recovered the kick off & pressed an attack that produced a penalty in front of the posts for not rolling away in the tackle, but fullback Luke White’s normally reliable kicking let him down. Stour kept up the pressure and looked likely to be rewarded from a break by captain Ciaran Moore but winger Dan Rundle mistimed his acceleration onto the ball and spilt it. To add insult to injury Sedge ran a 1st phase threequarter move from their first set piece possession, fullback Andrew Riley sliced clean through the outer Stour defences near halfway and sidestepped the cover. 11min 0-5.

With the visitors’ set pieces creaking Stour pressed again and secured a short range lineout throw but Moore was penalised for obstruction as lock Chris Depper drove for the line. The clearance kick missed touch though and back came Stour, White crossing out wide but denied due to another obstruction. Stour had the benefit of a penalty advantage though, kicked for the corner and launched a set of short range drives, Petty wrongfooting the defences but Otutaha unable to gather a pass that would have put him in under the posts. The visitors managed to take an attack into the Stour 22 but were comfortably repelled. Halftime 0-5.

An early 2nd half Stour attack got turned over when a speculative offload was picked off, Sedge countered and were only held out by last ditch defending that cost Otutaha a yellow card for side entry. The penalty was kicked to the corner and a well-executed catch & drive rumbled over with replacement Jon Matthews scoring. 46min 0-12.

A wayward Sedge clearance kick fell to Petty who found prop Mark George in space but without the gas to outpace the cover. It got worse when a Stour clearance kick at the other end got charged down, Sedge working the ball wide against the still short-handed defences for 2nd row Rob Birtwell to just squeeze over in the corner. 56min 0-19.

Back to full complement Stour comfortably held off Sedge’s next drives then attacked from set piece, winger Josh Trinham coming into the line to put White into space but his pass failed to find the unmarked Rundle and drifted into touch. Past the hour mark and staring down the barrel of home ‘nilling’ Stour dug deep and set to work on the Sedge scrum, loosehead Max Ashcroft picking up a yellow card for collapsing. Stour kicked to the corner and Sedge found themselves reduced to 13 when Matthews got a yellow card for side-entry. Stour opted for a 5m scrum and worked Otutaha over the line, Petty slotting a quick drop-kick conversion. 75min 7-19.

With Sedge looking to close the game out Stour eventually regained possession and worked their way back downfield where a goal-line siege saw Sedge flanker Sam Peet also sinbinned for offside. With time up Petty tapped and drove over to secure a consolation losing bonus point. Fulltime 14-19.

The next league rugby on offer at Stourton Park will be Midlands 2 West (N) leaders Stourbridge Lions hosting Tamworth on Mar 4th, 2.15pm ko. Stour’s next game is away at Chester the same day, then on Mar 11th they host league leaders Caldy, ko 3pm.