Well! That was close!

As suggested in the Match Preview (What do you mean…you haven’t read it?) this was going to be a tight game but it wasn’t lack of possession that was responsible for the low Try count.

Although tense, this was a 'dogged' game with often disjointed and scrappy phases of play. First half stoppages extended to over 10 minutes and included a number of penalties, some haymaking and a number of injury/tactical substitutions! With territorial advantage, a superior scrum and five penalties in a row it was inevitable that Stour would score first and the Callum Morris Try came from a 5-metre scrum reset. The lively Scrum Half, back from injury, received some good ball from the base of a scrum and twisted over the line for a 5-point lead.

The ‘Dale restart went straight into touch shortly followed by another Stour penalty after a ‘high tackle’. In spite of having a large amount of possession, the hosts failed to capitalize and soon found themselves have to defend furiously. Tynedale seemed intent on running everything, even declining a penalty kick in front of the posts. Fortunately, Stour were able to repel the attack and a raking Callum Morris kick sent the opposition back inside their own ‘22’.

Tynedale then mounted another attack and sent the play down the right wing. Distracted by some off the ball incidents, the Stourbridge defence was breached and the ball was sent to the left, eventually ending up in the hands of No 11 Will Haydon-Wood who dotted down in the corner. This was too far out for his self-conversion to succeed but was enough to level the score on the half hour mark.

From the kick off, it seemed like Stour had the majority of play and a number of penalties, combined with a mighty Sam Wilson kick, sent them deep into the Tynedale ‘22’. Unfortunately, the hosts were unable to capitalize after a knock-on with the whitewash beckoning. However, the Tynedale scrum was put under pressure and an alert Callum Morris made a nuisance of himself requiring his opposite number to touch down over his own Try line! Nigel Mukarati then secured ball and the ensuing maul offered Jack Lea another golden opportunity to demonstrate how devastating he can be from centimetres out! The conversion was wide but the remaining 3 minutes of the half was scoreless even though Tynedale were playing a strong running, front foot, game!

The visitors kicked off second half proceedings and it was a minute later that the industrious Sam Montieri had to leave after sustain yet another knock in this physical encounter. He was replaced by returning No 8 Joe Collingham who seemed to have a positive impact on the game despite forgetting who he gave his inhaler to and having to survive the next 30 odd minutes using Chad Thorne’s!

There was plenty of action in the second half with both sides showing their strengths in both attack and defence. Neither side was dominating the lineouts, particularly on their own throws. However, missed tackles, loose and inaccurate play negated any advantage they may have gained. Stour did have a chance to stretch the lead but the 45-metre penalty kick was a bridge too far and Arthur Morgan was denied his maiden Try after the ball was adjudged to have been passed forward, to him!

The deadlock was broken by Tynedale’s replacement Ben Blackburn after his side had broken through several weak tackles and gained 60 + metres in a mass attack that left some players and most of the crowd in disbelief! His 74th minute Try was unconverted and it was definitely “Game On!” Two minutes later, Stourbridge headed due south courtesy of successive penalties that took them from their own ‘22’ to the Tynedale Try line. They did cross the whitewash but the referee appeared to be unsighted and with no help from the AR, awarded a scrum to Stour.

Given scrum dominance throughout the game, it was inevitable that Stourbridge would come out on top of this situation but it took several resets for the ref to lose patience and award a penalty in front of the posts. This time, Chris Scott calmly stepped up to the tee and stroked the ball between the uprights to rapturous if somewhat relieved accolades from a delighted home crowd.

The win means that Stour move up to 5th place by virtue of ‘win count’ but both sides are on 34 points. With Sheffield Tigers arriving next week whilst Tynedale play 8th place Hinckley, there could be some moves next Saturday to rival those seen on “Strictly”.

Worthy of note, Tynedale also fielded two closely related players in the form of Jack and Matthew Outson. Others may recognize their No 7, Joseph Richards who bears an uncanny resemblance to his Dad, currently DoR at Newcastle Falcons. Another crazy coincidence is that Dad, Dean (If you haven’t guessed it by now) was a policeman, as was our own DoR Neil Mitchell but, there, the similarities end.