The Stour lineup had a mostly familiar look, the exception a first start for Liam Mather in over 12 months. There was also a welcome return from injury for fellow 2nd row Nick Murphy.

Conditions at Dore Moor were untypically calm, mild and dry for early January, and with plenty of grass on the pitch appeared ideal for an open running game. The hosts won the toss & elected to play up the slope first half.

The opening phases saw Tigers retain the ball for several phases, but disaster struck them when a floated pass wide right saw grateful winger Josh Trinham intercept and outrun the cover over 70m. Fullback Luke White converted. 3min 0-7.

Receiving the restart Stour managed to string the phases together, lively centre Will Hollis making a linebreak before offloading to supporting flanker Nigel Mukarati. He in turn found no.8 Ciaran Moore on his shoulder to take a scoring pass. 11min 0-14.

Tigers profited from some slack Stour tackling and were just denied by centre James Otutaha who won a footrace to ground loose ball in the Stour in-goal. Promising Stour attacks generated opportunities but foundered when passes were spilt, but patience paid off when Mukarati’s direct run pulled in several tacklers before he again fed Moore who held off 2 tacklers in a 20m run in. 23min 0-21.

With no further scoring to halftime, Stour re-started with a narrower short-phase keep-ball game. They ground their way uphill before the ball was moved wide to Trinham who managed to outpace the stretched defences to secure the try bonus point. 48min 0-28.

Stour rang the changes off the subs bench but their game lost shape and they shipped a try when centre James Broadley secured a turnover and eluded several tackles. 64min 5-28. Tigers started to throw the ball around chasing the game but a stray pass near the Stour tryline was picked off by winger Dan Rundle who burnt off the chasers to run 95m and score unhindered. 71min 5-35.

As the clock ran down the game opened right up, Tigers’ replacement Will Bennett profiting from more impressive work by Broadley to score their 2nd try. Centre colleague Jon Buchanan’s chip through produced a second try for Broadley. 78min 15-35. With the final whistle imminent Stour scrum half Joe Heatley broke clean through, the cover reaching him near the Sheffield 22 but he had already offloaded to Trinham who drew the remaining cover and fed veteran player coach Rod Petty who bounced over in the corner.

Next week Stour make another trip up the M1 for a first ever visit to Scunthorpe. At Stourton Park Stourbridge Lions have an North Midlands Shield tie against local rivals Kidderminster Carolians, ko 2.15pm.