Stourbridge suffered their second loss in a row but still remain in top place after a worthy Sale side took the spoils in this seven-try match on the new AGP surface.

Man for man, the visitors appeared to be 2” taller, half a stone heavier yet a yard quicker all round in this dominant display against a home team fielding more changes and with two debutants who had less than 4 hours team training between them.

However, it was one of these – Robbie Forbes – who set the game alight after just 4 minutes into the game, Sale conceded two quick penalties which led to nothing too threatening until the visitors cleared the ball to half way for a home team lineout. Possession was secured; following which Dan Rundle broke through, darting over to the right and feeding the young full back 22 metres out and still with plenty to do. Scott was unable to add the extras. Straight from the restart Sale went on the attack and were unlucky not to score, thwarted by an excellent tackle by Robbie Forbes.

In a move that was to become a regular occurrence over the next 70 minutes, Stour’s lineout ball was lost and recycled ball was taken by Sale centre Chris Mayor who scythed through a stretched defence to score by the posts and hotshot fly half Chris Johnson made no mistake with the conversion. The hosts took back the lead 5 minutes later through a Chris Scott penalty after a promising attack through Joe Heatley and Josh Trinham was illegally stopped and a Sale tackler did not roll away.

Sale then started to assert themselves and threw wave after wave of forwards and backs at the Stourbridge line. Chris Johnson’s kicking game meant Stour were constantly on the back foot and some blistering breaks by No 11 Anthony Bingham were to test the defence to eventual breaking point. Bingham has a great pedigree, having signed fromm Nat 1 side Fylde but has played American Football as well as representing Jamaica at the Hong Kong Sevens.

An offside infringement gave Johnson an easy shot at 3 points but, unusually, his kick hit the left upright. However, he made no mistake with his next kick which converted his team mate, No 8 Tom Ailes, try and taking the lead which was never overtaken in the following 52 minutes of play. Chris Scott did land a penalty a few minutes later but this was to be Stour’s only other first half score.

On 35 minutes, Sale won possession that should have been the property of the home side after Johnson’s thunderous kick ahead. In almost circus like fashion, Stourbridge were unable to clear their lines and a hapless hack at loose ball rebounded off a defender and a grateful No 7, Andrew Hughes, touched down giving Johnson an easy 2 points. The score was now 11 – 21 and Stourbridge needed to up the ante if they were to aid their second half fight back. However, they did quite the opposite after illegally halting another break by Man of The Match Anthony Bingham. Johnson’s penalty from 35 metres made it 11 – 24 and just 2 minutes later Stourbridge were down to 14 men after referee Callum Sharpe lost patience and sent Rod Petty to the sin bin. Fortunately, Stour repelled the next phases of play and were delighted to hear the half time whistle blow.

Sale kicked off the second half in still conditions and took just nine minutes to secure their Try Bonus Point through a strong break by Bingham but the try was unconverted. However, Johnson did add another penalty to take his tally to 12 points and rounded of his day with 14 by slotting over a conversion following Bingham’s second try of the day on 62 minutes. This happened immediately after Stour kicked off from the penalty with the ball going deep inside the Sale “22”. Bingham gathered and his speed and elusive running were fine reward for a good afternoon’s work.

In no way did Stourbridge simply give the game away but, with minimal possession, insecure lineout ball and numerous penalties conceded, they were not helping their cause. They did get onto the front foot following two nice breaks by George Morgan and Sale replacement hooker Harvey Derby (great alliteration) was Yellow carded seven minutes from full time. Stour did have the last say when a quick tap penalty saw Nigel Mukarati crash over with 2 minutes left. Controversially, Petty took a quick drop goal conversion, which was awarded by one AR but declined by another, and the referee.

Thus the final score was 16 – 39 and Sale retained 5th place, Stourbridge retained 1st place but the gap closed with Hinckley, Tynedale and Sedgley Park all securing maximum 5 point wins against Otley, Macclesfield and Chester, respectively.

Next week sees a well-earned break for the league teams with International action taking preference. This means a much-needed chance for broken bones to heal, stitches to set and bruises to shrink. However, there is still plenty to do and Stour face some hurdles with games against three of the top six teams (South Leicester, Hinckley and Tynedale).