For those of you who read the match preview, mid-week, you will now know why we had reasons to be cautious about this inevitable "banana skin"of a game against a good side with some great supporters.("Stourbridge are hoping that the bruising encounter against Sedge will not impact too much for Mitch and his selection options...").

Indeed, it wasn't just last week's encounter that impacted on Stour's progress but a catalogue of factors longer than the average second row's arm! Taking nothing away from Sheffield Tigers (they were the best side on the day) it is important to make supporters aware of the issues and misfortunes that have transpired over the last 2 weeks. Firstly, the team travelled with just four replacements. Two of these should not have travelled because of injury and one certainly should not have gone on the pitch for fear of aggravating problems, further.

Injuries include two broken legs, one concussion, one damaged eye socket, a broken thumb, shin splints and Norovirus! It is no wonder that Mitch's phone bill will be so high this month!

Going forward there are further injury worries as a result of Saturday's encounter in the likes of Chris Scott who came off before half time with a suspected broken cheek bone. Chad Thorne was replaced after getting a nasty cut above his right eye and Sam Pailor limped off following contact with a defender damaging his arm and leg. All of this meant realignment of positions and back row forward, Sam Montieri, ending up on the right wing.

Bright sun and strong wind meant a drying pitch after some heavy overnight rain and Tigers kicked off, with the wind but against the slope. It was three minutes later that they scored the opener following a missed kick. Stour were awarded a scrum penalty in a set piece that was actually to be their saviour for the rest of the game. However, the penalty failed to make touch and a grateful Tigers back division saw the ball pass between Jamie Broadley, Henri Packard, and Mark Ireland, eventually to full back Alex Graham who still had work to do scampering over in the left corner. Prophetically, Mark Ireland hit a superb conversion and Stour now had some work to do.

Grabbing the sheep by the horns, it was Joe Heatley who instigated proceedings with a searing break on the half way line, feeding Dan Rundle who sliced his way past several defenders to score on the 7 minute mark and Scotty added the extras. This was the only time in the game where the visitors were on an even keel with Tigers and did not help their cause with wayward kicking and line outs to match. On 16 minutes Tigers pressure paid off again, when a wild pass inside their own 22 saw Stour give away valuable possession with Wragg pouncing on an unclaimed ball to score, uncontested. Ireland bagged the other two points. The experienced fly half continued to have a major influence on the game with a number of massive clearance kicks leaving Stourbridge to ponder what was needed to break the gain line. The visitors needed to soak up some major pressure over the remainder of the half but gave away too many metres and penalties including two very kickable chances which Ireland took full advantage of to make the half time score 20 - 7. Tigers were also unlucky not to score a couple of tries following breaks by their hooker and centre, the latter being hauled down on the 5 m line by a last gasp tackle from Joe Heatley. The final seconds were spent tending to Chris Scott who was to play no further part in the game.

Unable to rely upon guaranteed lineout ball and lacking serious pace out wide (no offence Sam M!), Stour now needed to get street wise and revert to "Plan A". To their credit, the visitors spent the first 15 minutes inside the Tigers' 22 metre zone but were unable to capitalise until 56 minutes into the game. A penalty line out on 22 metres was driven forward with Nick Murphy pushed, pulled and dragged over the line to the right of the posts leaving a simple conversion for the last score of the game.

That is not to say that the remaining 24 minutes lacked excitement with both sides having chances that were defended and repelled with alacrity and some end to end rugby. However, Stourbridge did win the second half, coming away with a bonus point and remaining 7 points clear at the top of this tough league.

Elsewhere this weekend, Tynedale and Hinckley both won games against teams in the bottom quartile of the league. Congratulations should also go to Charlie Jeavons- Fellows who made a debut appearance in the Anglo-Welsh Cup loss to Sale Sharks.

Next Saturday, we host this landmark game on our new AGP surface against old rivals Sale. They lost in last season's promotion play off against Old Elthamians and we all look forward to a massive turnout, a great game and a history defining moment as the region's top rugby club moves onwards and upwards.

Thanks for Andy Cook for the photos.