Stour were forced to do it the hard way against a typically abrasive Leicester Lions outfit who stormed into an early lead that they held until Stour drew level late on. Stour fullback Tom Mitchell was called on to take the kicking duties but found two late penalty attempts just beyond his range.

The fired up hosts started with the slope advantage and dominated the early exchanges, a break by scrum half Adam Shaw setting up try for 2nd row William Roach. Stour pressed but a loose pass was picked off by no.8 Joe Collingham who ran in unopposed, giving Lions two converted tries in the opening ten minutes. Stung into action Stour kicked to the corner and launched a catch & drive maul that saw 2nd row Chris Depper crash over to open their account. Mitchell and Lions’ centre Jon Williams traded successful penalty attempts to make the halftime score 17-8.

The 2nd half saw Stour’s off-season conditioning work start to pay dividends as they ran the ball at a Lions’ outfit that started to cough up penalties in defence. Stour struck first when a well-executed set of short-range forward drives produced a try for flanker Nigel Mukarati. Indiscipline was to cost the visitors 6 points as Williams landed 2 further penalties, but then a fine midfield break was crafted from nothing by centre Joe Heatley. Mitchell then landed a further penalty to level it up, setting up a frantic final ten minutes all played in the Lions’ half. Stour threw the kitchen sink into attack but were ultimately frustrated with Mitchell unable to land two late efforts on goal.