Bishops Stortford RFC

With two sides going hammer and tongs at each other and Stortford producing a much improved performance against unbeaten TJs, this was an encounter that kept the crowd well entertained from start to finish. Momentum swung from side to side and, after Stortford had butchered a great opportunity within 2 minutes, they compounded this error by losing a defensive lineout, conceding a penalty and quick thinking by the visitors saw Oscar Waite over for a try converted by former Stortford player, Connor Lloyd with 4 minutes on the clock. Stortford’s early chance had come from a great burst through the heart of TJ’s defence by Charlie West and, with him and his fellow backrowers, Reggie Hammick and James Apperley now rampant, the home side surged into a 17-7 lead after 17 minutes. First, Mathis Dehauteur touched down from the base of a ruck, after Tom Hitchcock had made good ground up the middle with 9 minutes gone and then Hammick added two more tries. The second was a great solo effort, where the number 8 had enough pace to make the line after breaking through TJ’s midfield defence and the first was set up by another gtremendous bust up the middle and 30m run by West. Apperley weighed in with 2 crucial turnovers, allowing Stortford to enjoy this period of dominance, despite struggles at scrum time. TJs finally made their dominance at the set piece tell after 27 minutes when, after successive penalties, they opted for a scrum under Stortford’s posts and quick ball saw winger, Sam Morton-Smith over for an unconverted try. Stortford struck back on 32 minutes through a Morrow penalty goal, after a 50-22 kick had put them on the front foot, but the rest of the half belonged to the visitors. It was another former Stortford player, Harrison Langworthy that made the first breakthrough, smashing through a first-up tackle and sprinting 25 metres to touch down out wide. The conversion effort went wide, as it did on the point of halftime, after Will Holling touched down from a lineout maul, following two successive penalties, taking his side into the break 24-20 up.

The second period started badly for Stortford, with Callum Coyne yellow carded for offside in the red zone, after TJs had stretched the home defence with a quickly tapped penalty from another offence around halfway. Such was the visitors’ scrum dominance that they opted for a scrum under Stortford’s posts and it seemed to have paid off, when livewire Lloyd dashed over from a penalty awarded before the ball went into the scrum. The try was disallowed, though, as he had failed to kick the ball. The topsy-turvy nature of the game was well-illustrated when, shortly afterwards, TJs again opted for a scrum in front of Stortford’s posts, but the home pack shunted them backwards to win their own penalty. Ironically, it was also from a tremendous lineout steal by Apperley that the visitors actually made their breakthrough, when, after 45 minutes, Lloyd got an undisputed try, after taking a smart interception around halfway and sprinted over under the posts, leaving him an easy conversion. Another converted try only 2 minutes later took the visitors into a 16 point lead, when they took advantage of a second defensive kick going directly into touch on the strong cross-field wind. Quick hands down the line exposed Stortford’s 14 man defence, giving Morton-Smith an easy run-in for his second touchdown. Stortford struck back swiftly, with Seva Kava stepping in well from his wing to round off some good handling, as the ball went right then left across the field. A good conversion by Morrow narrowed the deficit to 9 points but, despite now enjoying the advantage in the scrums, one or two individual errors prevented them from applying any concerted pressure. With 70 minutes gone, though, the breakthrough came, following another great bust up the middle by West, when Hitchcock scored a tremendous try, looping round to fix the visitors’ defence before sprinting through a narrow gap for an unconverted try. The home side was now very much in the ascendency and came close to scoring down the left, when Kava was hauled down from behind only inches short. An arguably better chance went begging a couple of minutes later, however, when Hitchcock switched play, arcing back round to the right, whence the ball had come and, once again mesmerising the TJs defence. His speed took him close to the try-line with the opposition spreadeagled and, though he might well have been able to have repeated his earlier feat and gone alone, he opted to pass to his winger, who was brought down inches short by a tremendous cover tackle. Buoyed by this reprieve, the visitors looked to run down the remaining couple of minutes with short forward drives, but were penalised at a breakdown, giving Stortford a final chance to snatch the game from the resultant 5m lineout. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to control the maul and strong defence saw the ball held up for a scrum, which was the final act of the game.

So near and yet so far! While there was much for Stortford to be pleased about in this hugely improved performance against a strong opposition, the overriding feeling after the tumultuous ending has to be one of disappointment at a game so nearly won.