They were left to rue some big calls that went against them and points gifted by indiscipline to the faultless goalkicking of Grasshoppers’ fullback Sean Taylor.

The visitors opened the scoring after Stour were penalised for playing an opponent off the ball, then added a long-range strike after the hosts were penalised for not releasing in the tackle.

With Stour looking to run at their opponents at every opportunity, centre Joe Heatley’s break generated an attacking lineout in the Preston 22 but the ball was spilt. The Stour pack shunted the visitors scrum backwards though, sharp work by openside Richard Pennock recovered possession and Stour launched a short range drive that was held up in-goal. No.8 Connor Nicholls drove from the base and loosehead Stefan Thorp wasn’t to be denied as he crashed over from short range.

The visitors struck back with a further penalty when Stour winger Josh Trinham was yellow-carded for straying offside defending in the shadow of his own posts. Stour’s next attack secured a penalty goal for outside half Chris Scott when a tackler failed to release.

The visitors’ lock forward Reece Tomlinson got to join Trinham in the sin bin when referee Sara Cox despatched him for a dangerous charge into a ruck. Stour kicked for position and ran the ball, centre Joe Heatley was held up just short but a trademark show and go by scrum half Toby Handley opened enough of a gap for him to sneak through. Scott couldn’t convert but Stour had regained a 13-9 lead at halftime.

An early 2nd half Scott penalty kick extended the lead, then he and Taylor traded further successful kicks at goal. As Stour started to build some momentum in attack Preston’s defence shipped a rash of penalties, loosehead Oga Mabaya getting a yellow card when Miss Cox’s patience ran out. Scott’s long-range effort gave the hosts a 10-point lead.

But Stour put themselves under unnecessary pressure, getting turned over running the restart from deep and shipping another Taylor penalty for delaying a restart. Failing to learn the lesson Stour were again penalised for holding on as they tried to run the ball back from deep, and it got worse when replacement James Rodley was yellow carded for an innocuous-looking contact at the fringes of a ruck. Taylor bagged the penalty and Stour’s 14 men were defending a 4 point lead with 10 minutes remaining.

Scott opted to kick possession deep, Preston responded by upping the tempo but the Stour defences held until they conceded a penalty near halfway. Smelling blood Preston kicked for territory and drove, scrum half Harrison Moulding darted through some tired first up tackling and was just able to reach out and place the ball over the line despite Joe Bridger’s desperate cover tackle. Taylor was never going to miss the conversion so Stour were suddenly 3 points down with barely 2 minutes left on the clock.

The quick reactions of Trinham secured an interception that was followed by a penalty award wide out on the Preston 22. Stour declined the kick at goal and kicked for the corner, launching a driving maul with the threequarters flying in to add weight. Preston pulled it down and must have been mighty relieved not to see Miss Cox heading under the posts to award a penalty try. As advantage was played Stour couldn’t force their way over, and with time up opted to scrum. After several re-sets the Stour front row were deemed responsible for a scrum collapse, the visitors kicked the ball out and celebrated victory.