Poor discipline and a rash of tactical substitutions saw Stour’s game lose its shape in the 2nd half as they found themselves yellow-carded down to 13 men. Grasping their opportunity the visitors rallied and clawed back 3 tries, but the game ended with Stour centre Joe Heatley securing his second successive 2-try haul.

Chris Depper returned in the 2nd row, with loosehead Stef Thorp making his first appearance of the season from the bench. Max Fellows (fullback) & Ben Phillips (inside centre) both stepped up from the bench to make their starting debuts with threequarter bench cover provided by Chris Scott and James ‘Otto’ Ransford. In overcast but dry conditions Stour kicked off into a stiff breeze defending the northerly end.

A fumbled kickoff receipt put Stour straight into attack and the visitors’ midfield defences were left looking at each other as Heatley ran straight through unchecked from 1st phase ball. 7-0 with barely a minute played.

Stour held out the visitors’ early attacking drives but at the expense of penalty awards, one of which was successfully converted by centre Will Robinson. 6min 7-3. Scunthorpe again failed to deal with the restart kick though, prop Mark George collecting on the run and working back inside to the support. A set of short forward drives brought the tryline in sight and captain Ciaran Moore barged over. 7min 12-3.

Stour continued to press with ball in hand, bossing the contact area as the visitors struggled to halt their momentum. A penalty for offside was kicked to the corner and Stour executed a catch & drive that was brought to ground illegally, a quick tap penalty kept the drive going and with the defenders drawn in Depper found a huge gap to crash through. 17min 19-3.

With their tails up Stour ran the restart back, scum half Ben Tibbetts squeezing through gaps in the fringe defences. The drive reached Scunthorpe’s 22 and was moved wide but Heatley just overcooked his cut-out pass to the unmarked Moore. All the visitors could do though was clear their lines and await the next onslaught which brought a yellow card for prop Aaron Coultard for a succession of offside offences. Stour failed to capitalise but the visitors’ brief foray in attack ended with a penalty for holding on in the tackle, Moore took a quick tap near the hosts’ 10m and was only hauled down just short of the tryline. With the defences shredded the ball was worked right where an interchange with hooker Sam Wilkes brought the bonus-point try for flanker Nigel Mukarati. 30min 26-3.

The visitors could do little but hoof their next possession deep downfield from where the waiting Stour back 3 counter-attacked. Moore broke free again to make big yardage, Tibbetts looked to have been dispossessed but managed to hack the loose ball through and was only denied a try by a tackle off the ball, the supporting Wilkes touching down instead and Scunthorpe fullback Colin Chapman yellow carded. With just seconds left in the half Stour pressed again, unmarked flanker Billy Harding denied when an attempted offload just failed to go to hand. Halftime 33-3.

Stour fumbled the restart, the visitors launching a set of short drives that produced a try for 2nd row Nick Syddall. 42min 33-8. A Stour counter-attack saw Moore again breaking tackles for Tibbetts to feed a scoring switch pass to winger Ash Elvers. 44min 38-3. But the game then drifted into a long period of error-strewn stalemate, Stour losing Harding to the sinbin for an offence at the tackle. Scunthorpe took advantage with a try for flanker Ash Dibden with Stour further reduced when winger Joe Bridger was also yellow carded for a an offence in the lead-up. A try for visitors’ centre Sam Morgan was followed by a final flourish by Stour that produced a 2nd try Heatley after a break down the right by Fellows. Full time 45-20.

This Sat Oct 1st Stour travel to Leicester Lions looking to avenge a 4 game losing streak against their East Mids rivals. Stourbridge Lions are at home hosting Old Yardleians, ko 3pm. Next week Stour host Harrogate, ko 3pm.