They lost flyhalf Gary Dipple in the warm up and scrum half Jake Nash with less than a quarter of an hour gone, forcing further reshuffles which included a debut for centre Damian Webb. With their set piece under constant pressure early on they were forced to live off scraps, briefly showing a glimpse of what might have been in the 2nd half when they set up camp in the Ionians 22 to force captain Nigel Mukarati over for a consolation try. But in truth it was mostly one-way traffic and the hosts cantered to an easy win.

With Dale Garner injured Jordan Page took the starting berth at hooker. Nathan Bressington was carrying an injury so Bobbie Lawrenson started on the right wing, Gareth Bown replaced Sione Tu’ipolotu at inside centre. Coach Jon Higgins stepped up to take the flyhalf role.

The game started brightly enough, Lawrenson’s chase securing a box kick by Nash that set up a lineout in Ionians’ 22, but they cleared their lines & then seized possession from a fluffed Stour lineout, the attack reaching the Stour 22 where a knock-on resulted in a Stour scrum. Stour cleared their lines but were again turned over in the lineout and penalised in the scrum, Ionians’ James Ferguson missing an attempted penalty kick. Back came the hosts, forcing a series of short range scrums at which Stour were penalised. Eventually referee Jack Makepeace lost patience, awarded a penalty try and sinbinned Stour loosehead Steve Blackburn. 12min 7-0.

Lawrenson charged down a clearance attempt, but he had little support and the hosts were able recover possession and break from deep. The drive was halted but Nash suffered an eye injury in the tackle and was replaced by Damian Webb, Higgins moving to scrum half and Bown to outside half with Eji Uzoigwe sacrificed as Adam Sturdy took the loosehead berth. The depleted Stour scrum were driven off their own ball, the hosts back row broke and openside Lawrence Cowen scored in the corner. 15min 12-0.

Play moved to a higher-tempo loose game which seemed to suit Stour better, Caolan Ryan getting into the attack by kicking for position and turnovers forced from Ionians’ handling errors. Stour still couldn’t get their lineout to function though, doing well to hold out a lengthy Ionians siege of their goal line. Back up to 15 they persisted with the territorial game and were rewarded with a long range penalty that Ryan slotted, 29min 12-3. But their scrum was again turned over from the restart, Cowen’s bind on Uzoigwe going unnoticed by the officials and creating a gap in the defences that scrum half Adam Thomas ran through to score. 19-3 on the half hour.

A break by Uzoigwe into Ionians’ territory produced another penalty for a defensive misdemeanour that Ryan slotted, 34min 19-6. With the clock ticking down Stour were defending again, their scrum coughed up another penalty and a sloppy handling error from a chip through gave winger Steve Slingsby an easy run in. Half time 26-6.

An early 2nd half attack saw hooker Ali Thomson secure another Ionians’ try from short range, 45min 33-6. With little to be gained from kicking penalties Stour opted to go for the corner & finally got to stress the hosts’ defences, setting up a lengthy siege of the 22 that produced a short-range try for Mukarati. 51min 33-13. The hosts hit back with a well worked lineout move that produced a try for left wing Sam Wilson, 56min 38-13, then a catch & drive produced a try & conversion for Ferguson, 45-13 on the hour mark. Stour were briefly back in the Ionians’ 22 but Drew Harper was penalised for holding on in the tackle as he crossed the goal line and the opportunity went begging. With nothing to lose Stour again looked to up the tempo & counter from deep but with the defences misaligned a kick ahead simply gifted the final Ionians try to replacement Ben Smith who got a run-in to the corner. Final score 50-13.