Sat 17 Oct 2026, 14:00
Another case of so near and yet so far for Stortford, but their high error rate ultimately outweighed their spells of good rugby.
Stortford took the lead after 3 minutes, when Hamish Ferguson touched down after several phases of driving play, following a chip and regather by Tom Hitchcock. Ben Morrow’s conversion attempt bounced out off an upright. Leeds went ahead 5 minutes later, when they recovered and ran back from their own 22 a testing long kick from Alex Gilham. Good footwork from flyhalf, Eddie Crossland allowed him to elude the first two chasers and his outside backs then exploited Stortford’s off-balance defence to run the length of the filed for a try, very well converted from the touchline by Crossland himself. A great solo try by Seva Kava, weaving his way over from halfway past multiple attempted tackles regained the lead for the visitors, with 12 minutes gone. Morrow this time added the extras. With the strongish wind at their backs, Stortford dominated most of the possession for the rest of the half, but repeated handling errors and some very loose kicking prevented them from creating any clear chances until just before the break, when they finally made a 5m lineout count, with Alex Rayment diving over for a try at the back of a strongly-driven maul. The conversion attempt went wide, but the visitors looked to be taking an important 10 point lead into the break, when they secured the restart kick and casually punted the ball into touch – obviously believing that time was up. The referee, however, decided otherwise and Leeds took full advantage, sweeping over for a try to their fullback from the first phase after the resultant 22m lineout. Another good conversion from out wide by Crossland narrowed the gap at the break to only 3.
The second half started disastrously for the visitors, as a badly-missed tackle in midfield saw Leeds’ hooker dash through and feed one of his supporting backs for a try under the posts within 2 minutes of the restart. Crossland converted and, almost immediately, Stortford’s woes were added to when Ferguson was yellow-carded for a high tackle. Leeds took full advantage, scoring two more tries within the first 8 minutes of the half. The first came again from some shoddy defence up the middle, but the second was cleverly created by a cute chip kick from Crossland. He converted the second to put his side into a 31-17 lead. Stortford looked to be out of the hunt at this stage but, to their great credit, they dug deep and took advantage of a turnover won by Damien Ducci in the opposition half to register their bonus point try on 52 minutes, through another Rayment try at the base of one of several attacking rucks. Leeds bounced straight back and, with Stortford’s defence unable to deny ground to the home side’s strong runners, they forced a penalty under the posts, from which a quick tap saw their right wing over for an unconverted try. Once again,though, Stortford forced their way back into the game and, with their scrum now enjoying a decisive edge, piled on the pressure. Rayment’s hat-trick try resulted after 60 minutes, again at the heart of another driving maul, after one of several pinpoint penalties to touch from Morrow. Stortford now had very much the upper hand and pressed repeatedly inside the home 22, but lacked the composure at crucial times to be able to make this tell. For the second week in a row, therefore, they had to settle for two bonus points and an overriding feeling of frustration at another winning opportunity lost.
