Both sides looked to move the ball wide in the early exchanges, a turnover near halfway setting up a Stour counter that led to an attacking 5m scrum as the defence fumbled a kick ahead. With his forward colleagues driving their opponents backwards no.8 Drew Harper met little resistance in forcing his way over the line for a short range try converted by outside half Gareth Bown. 10min 0-7.
Huddersfield responded with a straightforward penalty goal from outside half Joel Hinchliffe when a Stour defender strayed offside in their next attack. 16min 7-3.

Stour drove back downfield, forcing another scrum penalty and driving a maul deep in the hosts’ 22 that led to home no.8 Nick Sharpe getting yellow-carded for going off his feet at the tackle. They opted to scrum again but Harper was adjudged to have knocked on before grounding the ball and referee Kirkpatrick – having already issued a warning - penalised the visitors for backchat.

Huddersfield cleared their lines and adopted a kicking game that succeeded in holding Stour out of their 22 for the duration of the sin-binning, and continuity became difficult with frequent blasts of the whistle for various penalty offences and handling errors. Jack Lea replaced Jordan Page at hooker but Stour were only able to set up their next attacking platform as the clock ran down towards halftime, 2nd row Ben Hughes hauled down just short, the ball recycled slowly and fullback Jamie Hearn ignoring support wide out and knocking on as he opted to go for the line himself. Half time 3-7.

Shortly after the break tighthead prop Mark George was forced off injured. Play moved around the midfield, neither side able to achieve line-breaks in attack or establish an attacking platform in their opponents’ 22 as kicks failed to find touch and a steady rash of transgressions by both sides were penalised. Stour were awarded a penalty just inside their own half but failed to find touch and found themselves instead with a lineout just outside their 22. The throw was overcooked, Huddersfield secured the ball and attacked the short side which they found defended by Stour’s front row, it was to be the only time the Stour line was threatened all game but they managed to force replacement Richard Brown over the line with Hinchliffe converting. 70min 10-7.

The restart was overcooked and the hosts smelt blood, attacking a scrum to force a relatively straightforward penalty shot that Hinchliffe hooked wide. Stour upped the tempo and finally started to generate some go-forward with ball in hand, a set of phases generating a penalty on the hosts’ 22 right in front of the posts. With just 4min left they declined the 3 point option to bring the scores level and kicked to the corner for a catch & drive that was pulled down. Stour went to the corner again and repeated the exercise, this time the backs flying in to add weight to the maul that was trundling steadily towards the line before Mr Kirkpatrick penalised one of the arriving players for side entry. The opportunity passed, Huddersfield kicked the ball out and the game had gone. Full time 10-7.