Stour deployed their attacking game early on a soft surface that made running rugby increasingly difficult, and were rewarded with 2 well-taken tries by their threequarters. Resolute defence then saw Stour hold off a Caldy side that generated scant return for long periods dominating both territory and possession, only once managing to breach the visitors’ defences.

Stour’s top tryscorer centre Joe Heatley opened their account, the forwards playing the phases following a lineout before outside-half Rod Petty’s cut-out pass found fullback Tom Mitchell with a 3 on 1 overlap. Winger Josh Trinham drew the last defender and fed Heatley running on his inside shoulder. 8min 0-5

A Caldy maul got held up from the restart, gifting Stour scrum feed just inside their own half. Trinham came off his wing and into the line at pace, taking centre James Otutaha’s scoring pass to hare through a gap and leave Caldy’s fullback for dead with an outrageous dummy. Mitchell converted. 11min 0-12.

With the bit between their teeth Stour continued to probe Caldy’s wide defences, winger Ash Elvers breaking clear down the right touchline but his attempted chip was contained by the last defender and the opportunity passed. Stung into action Caldy’s pack got to work, grinding downfield and declining straightforward goalkicks to kick to the corners. Stour clung on, stealing one lineout throw and holding up a subsequent drive into in-goal, their dominant scrum denying the hosts’ attacks front foot ball. Trinham’s attention caused winger Nick Royle to spill one crossfield punt with the line begging, but Stour were unable to clear their lines and eventually conceded a short range converted try to Caldy tighthead Derek Salisbury after a catch & drive. 22min 7-12.

With a breeze on their backs Caldy then opted to hoof the ball deep into Stour territory, the visitors running the ball back at them but unable to generate further linebreaks. Alarm bells rang when a Trinham offload went loose in Stour’s 22, but the cover reacted quickly to bring down Caldy centre Tom Banks just short of the Stour uprights, the ball then pilfered by Robbie Hurrell to spare his colleague’s blushes. The hosts persisted in kicking to the corners but were unable to set and sustain a driving maul to seriously threaten Stour’s line. As halftime approached one final effort was closing on the line but hooker Neil Dowridge was penalised for an off the ball incident and Stour were able to run the clock down without further scoring.

The visitors were awarded a kickable early 2nd half penalty but opted to go to the corner, only to find themselves denied by a handling error. Granted a 2nd opportunity shortly after near Caldy’s 10m line they opted to take the points and Mitchell extended the lead with a well-struck penalty. 47min 7-15.

Poor discipline gifted possession and territory to the hosts, Stour quickly finding themselves defending a goal-line siege as Caldy probed their wide defences. A last-ditch tackle by scrum half Toby Handley prevented a try but at the cost of a sinbinning when he failed to roll away. Caldy kicked for the corner and pressed the attack but Stour just about held them out before getting a shove on at a scrum to afford some temporary respite. Awarded a further kickable penalty Caldy too opted for 3 points through the boot of centre Gavin Roberts. 69min 10-15.

After Heatley’s chip & chase was only denied by the bounce of the ball in the Caldy in-goal, back came the hosts but the relentless Stour defences once again held them out. A handling error allowed Caldy one final visit to the Stour 22, but the visitors had introduced their front row subs and the final play saw the hosts driven back on their own scrum feed, a knock-on bringing the final whistle and a hard-fought but well-deserved Stour victory.

Next week Jan 16th Stour host the Yorkshiremen of Harrogate at Stourton Park, 3pm ko.