Having prevailed in the hard-fought reverse fixture played in driving rain back in late November, a Stour side looking to bounce back from a hammering at the hands of Tynedale took the field looking to set the pace from the outset. What resulted was a curate’s egg of a performance, a sublime 5-try 2nd half securing the win but preceded by an error-strewn first 40min where offloads were forced, passes went astray and Chester gratefully helped themselves as their hosts regularly coughed up possession.

Stour kicked off into a fresh breeze and probed the Chester defences with ball in hand. Quick tap ball off a free-kick was moved left but an attempted cut-out pass was picked off by Chester outside-half Rhys Hayes who found an empty backfield with the Stour backs all lined up in attack. He ran 50m before feeding a scoring pass to winger Craig Ross and then converting. 5min 0-7.

A Chester attack put centre Tom Foden clean through near halfway but a foul play call saw the penalty award go to Stour. They drove an attack then moved the ball wide, but a pass off the floor was intercepted and Chester kicked clear. Stour countered with a run down the left flank by lock forward Chris Depper, the ball worked back right where replacement Josh Trinham was unmarked but the final pass to him drifted forward.

With the wind advantage Chester got the better of a kicking exchange, forcing Stour deep into their 22. A knock-on gave Chester a scrum platform to launch a short-range threequarter attack that stalled just short when they were penalised for not releasing. But Stour soon found themselves defending again, winger Nathan Bressington working a turnover but his pass was spilt, Chester working scrum ball right where fullback Callum Bennett slipped through an uncharacteristically porous Stour defence. 24min 0-12.

A promising break by no.8 James Rodley nearly ended in disaster when his pass was intercepted, setting up a breathless passage of play where the ball was turned over on multiple occasions. Stour stuck to their ball-in-hand game and created a 2 on 1 out wide but again a spilt final pass meant a score went begging. Their final attack of the half saw fullback Joe Bridger bundled into touch just short of the line. Halftime 0-12, lots of endeavour but Stour making no impact on the scoreboard.

Stour secured the restart kick and outside-half Chris Scott hoofed deep, Chester’s clearance missing touch to set up a wave of attacks. Flanker Joe Carpenter’s pass found Bridger whose footwork saw him ghost through the defences to score under the posts. 42min 7-12.

Preferring to contain Chester in their own half, Stour’s halfbacks used the breeze to kick deep. Chester pressed an attack deep, but a forced pass was picked off by Trinham who hared 65m downfield to score. 57min 14-12. Stour’s next attack was turned over in the Chester 22, but a missed clearance kick allowed Scott to cross-kick, finding prop Mark George out wide who fed Trinham, a return pass then finding Rodley in support who crashed over to score. 63min 21-12.

A scrum on halfway saw a worked move, Scott’s chip bouncing kindly for centre James Otutaha who drew the cover and fed Ash Elvers on his inside shoulder. 67min 28-12. A shortened Stour lineout in the Chester 22 then saw Rodley hit the line at pace and again crash over. 73min 35-12.

With game buried Stour were content to kick possession deep and make the visitors run at them. In a last throw of the dice Chester ran from deep in their own 22, taking quick tap penalties and eventually working a mismatch out wide for flanker Joe Kyle whose inside pass put fellow back-rower Will Bown clear. Fulltime 35-17.

Stour’s next fixture is away at Otley on Apr 9th, their final home league fixture of the 2015-16 season will be on Apr 16th against Sale.