Stockport remain rooted to the foot of the National 2 North table and are probably still wondering what they did to unleash the torrent that blew them away. Both wingers profited from the time & space they were offered to secure hat-tricks, Stef Cooksammy’s coming before the halftime whistle.

Kyle Garner returned from injury to make a significant impact at tighthead, Stour’s threequarters exploiting the front-foot ball this provided as the forwards got the upper hand in the scrum. Eji Uzoigwe also returned, his openside skills having been missed the week before, while coach Jon Higgins providing the goalkicking option from fullback.

Stour received the kick-off defending the North end of the pitch, they patiently built a set of drives showing excellent ball retention before drawing a defender offside. Stockport got some relief through a long dropout, but back came Stour with more of the same. It was to become a pattern that though committing several defenders to each tackle the visitors were being consistently driven backwards in the contact area and failing to slow the hosts’ ball. Another defender strayed offside as Stour approached their 22, this time Higgins opted to take an easy 3 points, 6min 3-0.

The restart was again run back through phases at the visitors, centre Ben Barkley putting colleague Stef Shillingford into space near halfway on the thinly defended narrow side, he drew the final defender to pass to winger Stef Cooksammy who scored in the corner. Higgins landed the difficult conversion. 8min 10-0 and ominously for the visitors they hadn’t touched the ball other than the restart kicks.

A fumbled catch gifted them an attacking scrum in the Stour 22, but they were unceremoniously shunted back and Stour looked to attack again with pace in the wide channels. Shillingford hoofed the ball into the visitors 22 where it just eluded the grasp of Uzoigwe, but the speed of the attack had left Stockport with no shape to counter so they kicked clear. A series of close forward drives set up a promising position for Stour but they lost the ball in contact & then scum half Jacob Nash was penalised for straying offside at the scrum.
A turnover in contact gave Stockport’s sharp left wing Elliot Fletcher a run down the touchline, but he was brought down by opposite number Nathan Bressington and then stripped of possession by Uzoigwe. Stour countered, moving the ball from one touchline to the other before Shillingford spotted a half-gap & powered through an attempted tackle short of his own 10m line. He brushed off 2 further tackle attempts before delivering an inside scoring pass to Bressington. 15-0 in even time.

Stour maintained the tempo, returning the restart through a series of drives that drew a penalty on halfway for side entry, Nash tapped & ran and it was only a fumble short of the line that denied them again. No matter, they secured scrum ball near halfway and a worked move that saw Higgins enter the line at speed to put Cooksammy into space, with little space to work in he stayed on his feet and drove through the cover tacklers to score. 18min, 20-0 and Stockport blown away by the speed and power of the hosts’ game.

A fumbled restart finally gave Stockport some attacking ball in the Stour half, they built their attack patiently until the hosts coughed up a penalty offence at a tackle. They kicked for the corner & set siege to the Stour line, another penalty award was used the same way but this time their catch & drive was irresistible & replacement Kieran Hibbs was the man to score. Outside half Josh Longmore converted, 25min 20-7.

A knock on chasing the restart kick gave the visitors feed at the scrum, but they were again driven off the ball, Stour’s attack drawing another offside call that was kicked to the corner. The defences were stretched as the ball was moved wide, back it came after the fringe defenders were sucked in by short range drives and finally a huge cut-out pass by Shillingford found hooker Dale Garner who trotted over with nobody at home in defence. 27-7 on the half hour.

A deep infield clearance kick found no.8 Drew Harper covering in the Stour 22, his drive secured quick ball that was worked left where Stockport had several tight forwards in the defensive line. Barkley stepped inside a tackle and broke through the line, finding Shillingford outside him who stepped inside the cover and had the simplest of draw & give passes to put Cooksammy under the posts for his hat-trick. 36min 34-7.

The visitors must have been hoping to hear the halftime whistle, instead Harper pounced on their untidy lineout ball to set up a big drive from Uzoigwe. The ball went wide to Bressington who pulled the drift defence across before slotting a neat inside grubber kick that Shillingford gratefully side-footed through and dived on to score. Half time 41-7, and easily Stour’s best all-round 40min of rugby this season.

The opening exchanges of the 2nd half were less effective, errors halting both sides’ attacks. Loosehead Adam Sturdy got the squeeze on his opposite number in a scrum though, the penalty award kicked for position and the hosts tried to wind up the tempo again as they moved the ball wide in attack. Nash tapped & ran a penalty award for offside, he was denied but only at the expense of a yellow card for the visitors’ lock forward Chris Roddy. Stour opted to scrum but Harper was penalised for holding on in the tackle as he drove from the base. Stockport struggled to clear their lines though, Stour attacked off a lineout and after Kyle Garner was held up just short Sturdy was on hand to finish the move from close range. 54min 48-7.

Credit to Stockport, back they came and sustained a period of pressure in the Stour half that started to draw penalty offences from the defenders. After one-too-many of these replacement lock Ciaran Moore was yellow carded, but the hosts cleared their lines and secured a turnover that was worked wide to Bressington who was bundled into touch just short of the tryline. After several further stalled attacks Robbie Hurrell secured lineout ball near halfway, replacement Sione Tu’ipolotu ran unhindered past a disinterested defender and put Shillingford into space, he cut back and found Bressington in support to score his second try. 72min 55-7. The performance was rounded off when Cooksammy gathered an aimless kick ahead, broke the initial tackles and offloaded to Shillingford who again found Bressington in support, he wrongfooted the cover to score his hat-trick try. Full time 62-7.