It never looked likely to be sufficient though, and so it proved as Ampthill demonstrated why they top the league, starving the visitors of possession for long periods of the game and powering their way to a bonus point victory. Stour can take consolation from the fact that they were competitive for long stretches of this game, came through it relatively free of further injuries and were able to stretch the hosts early on when conditions favoured their high-tempo handling game.

With Ben Hughes unavailable Ciaran Moore started at lock forward, a Jon Higgins injury forcing Nathan Bressington to switch to fullback with Nathan Geekie starting on the right wing. Despite his wife’s due date for child no.2 being on the day Mark George also made a welcome return on the bench.

With the sky darkening by the minute Ampthill received the kick off and were first into attack. A penalty award was kicked to the corner and after pulling in the short side defenders in scrum half Kevin Barratt was able to barge his way through the cover for an early try.

A lineout offence gifted possession to Stour though, Drew Harper taking a quick tap looking to keep the tempo up. With scrum half Jacob Nash marshalling his forwards effectively the attack reached the hosts 22 before a penalty was conceded by the defenders. Stour kicked to the corner and after the cover had been pulled in by a Ben Barkley run Nash dummied the fringe defence and ghosted though a gap to score.

The rain started to lash down but Stour managed to wheel an Ampthill scrum to secure the feed near the hosts’ 10 metre line. Drew Harper picked and drove from the base, shrugged off some ineffective tackling and offloaded neatly to winger Nathan Geekie clear in support to his right. He scored out wide for Gary Dipple to land a very difficult conversion, 7-12 after 15min.

Stour continued to throw the ball about despite the conditions, Stef Shillingford being hauled down just short of the line but a shade unlucky to be penalised for not releasing in the tackle. Unable to kick effectively into the wind Ampthill were content to play keep-ball, running it back from deep, but the damp conditions led to handling errors creeping in for both sides and neither was able to exert sustained pressure. With the exception of one monster kick by Stef Cooksammy Stour didn’t take full advantage of the dreadful conditions though by failing to kick effectively when they secured turnovers.

Cooksammy’s touchfinder set up a short range catch & drive attempt that the hosts repelled, Drew Harper adjudged to have knocked on driving from the base of the maul. The attempted clearance kick was run straight back but another handling error enabled them to lift the siege and Stour were unable to mount another substantive attack. Halftime 7-12 and the weather clearing rapidly.

The 2nd half turned out to be one-way traffic, Ampthill retaining the ball well and delivering a much more effective kick-chase game than the visitors had managed. Stour tackled gamely but coughed up possession far too easily through penalties or handling errors. A Ciaran Moore break looked to have set up a promising attack at one stage but a wayward pass was intercepted and the well-drilled hosts never looked back, running in 6 unanswered tries.