Stamford Rugby Club beat Stockwood Park

Stamford secured their biggest win of the Counties 1 Midlands East (South) season after a 59-7 home success over Stockwood Park on Saturday.

It was Stamford's sixth victory of the campaign from seven league outings and leaves them in second spot in the table.

Before the match, both teams and supporters stood for a minute silence in memory of Wisbech player Arturas Rudys who sadly lost his life during a game last weekend.

Stamford showed good intention from the start of the game and anything Stockwood Park tried was quickly dealt with by the home defence.

When the ball was turned over, Riches and Chisholm made good ground before Ian Downer chipped into space for Dan Heard to run onto and score under the posts which was converted by Bentley for an early 7-0 lead.

What followed was the best all round team performance of the season so far.

The Stamford front row of Harris, Riches and Robertson dominated the scrums and they came close to scoring but were held up.

From the resulting drop out, Town moved the ball to Small who left defenders in his wake as he crashed over for a converted try.

The visitors from Luton did their best to break out but were quickly sent backwards and Heard split the defence before off-loading to skipper Jack Jones to cross for a try which Bentley added the extras to make the score 21-0.

Stockwood realised that this was not going to be their day when they were driven back at a scrum and second row Small again picked up and left them standing to score his second and Town's fourth try, securing the bonus point before the break. The conversion was good and stretched the lead to 28-0.

The Stamford back row of Cox, Shaw and Jones linked well in both defence and ball carrying and they set Dan Heard away on another break which was finished by Chisholm for another second row try which was again converted.

At this point it seemed Stamford had the freedom of the pitch and, during an attack, a Stockwood Park player deliberately tripped Jones and was shown a yellow card.

Town kicked to the corner and drove the line-out on for Ed Cox to score. Bentley converted which made the half-time score 35-0.

The second half started loosely and the visitors combined to attack into the home 22.

When the ball went loose, two of their players took it on and Jones smother-tackled them both, but the referee penalised him for stopping a player without the ball and gave him a yellow card and awarded a penalty try to make it 35-7.

Stamford's response was to go on the attack which led to a five-yard scrum and, despite being a man short, they drove forward but the visitors collapsed, conceding a penalty.

Ed Cox took a quick tap and charged over for another converted try and the scoreboard now read 47-7.

Stamford were playing a running and supporting game, looking to move the ball wide and bring full back Dave Martin into the line.

When they were stopped short, Jones won the resulting line out and crossed for another try.

To their credit Stockwood Park never gave up despite being stopped and turned over by Stamford who were in complete control.

Downer initiated a crossfield move and the ball was recycled by Kendall who put Harley Riches clear for a try which Bentley converted to make the final score 59-7.

This was a very good performance by the team who are growing in both confidence and ability.

Head coach Matt Albinson will continue to push for more and the players are responding to him. The growing number of spectators on the touchline are also enjoying the rugby on display.

There are no fixtures this weekend due to the World Cup final and Stamford's next game is away at Leicester Vipers on Saturday, November 4, when the kick-off times go to 2.30pm.