Sandal attacked first down the slope, the move lost momentum as flanker Nigel Mukarati put in a huge tackle that referee Ben Davis adjudged dangerous and penalised. Home outside half Greg Wood slotted the kick at goal.

Sandal turned over a Stour lineout throw, a missed first-up tackle allowing their backs to take the attack deep into the Stour half where a side-entry offence gifted another penalty kick for Wood. A further fluffed lineout and a high tackle presented 3 more points to Wood, Stour finding themselves 9 points adrift with only 10min on the clock.

The visitors struggled to build any pressure, handling errors and lost scrum feeds continuing to turn possession over. A penalty award was kicked to the corner, Stour were unable to drive the maul up the hill but secured a penalty right in front of the Sandal posts for offside. The kick at goal was spurned but the tap penalty move was held up over the line and a strike against the head allowed Sandal to clear their lines.

The Stour scrum started to impose itself, loosehead Stef Thorp winning a penalty as the home tighthead buckled under pressure, but outside half Chris Scott’s kick at goal flew wide. Stour shipped another kickable penalty but Wood also missed. Stour hit back with a set of forward drives that ground deep into the Sandal half but it was again held up in-goal and the halftime whistle was blown.

Subs Joe Carpenter and Jacob Nash came on at halftime, but Stour’s woes continued when a tackle offence was penalised and they shipped another 3 points. Winger Josh Trinham’s leap secured the restart and Stour finally got on the scoreboard through a Scott penalty when Sandal transgressed at a tackle.

A succession of penalty awards put Stour on the back foot and culminated in a yellow card on the hour mark for a high tackle by centre Joe Heatley, it could have been worse had Wood not fluffed the straightforward kick at goal. With Scott subbed off Stour declined another kickable penalty and went to the corner, but a series of short range drives proved fruitless as the ball was lost in contact.

A clean break by replacement hooker Billy Harding set up a further Stour attack but Rod Petty’s chip through was defused. Sandal were unable to clear their lines though and with time nearly up Stour launched a last-ditch set of short-range forward drives. The hosts coughed up a penalty and with time dead and two scores adrift Petty opted to kick at goal to secure a losing bonus point.