Sat 1 Apr 2023
Could have won, should have won, but somehow Globe Holidays sponsored Stocksbridge Rugby managed to throw away a half time lead, & snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in a disappointing 24pts – 21pts reverse away at York based, Nestle Rowntree Rugby at the weekend. A welcome return to the flanks for the experienced duo of Ben Westby & former skipper Adam Roles-Middlehurst helped compensate for some late cry offs, & a failed fitness test for centre Ben Tyers left the travelling squad short on numbers however, playing with a swirling breeze in the 1st half, the visitors had the better of the early exchanges, but a lapse in defence allowed Nestle to take an early lead before Stocksbridge came roaring back into the contest. A well worked line out, won by Reece ‘diesel’ Aspin, was turned into a rolling maul by the dominant Stocksbridge 8, & ‘slammin’ Sam Whitaker was on hand to plunge over the line from close range to register the 1st points for the visitors, Sam is sponsored by S&M Pipeworks. Well within the kicking range of Jack Pearson, sponsored by Hamshaw Plumbing, to add the extras. Stocksbridge dominated territory with Woodcock, Martin & the hard working Newton denting the Nestle defence with some probing runs. Another training ground line out move, allowed Pete Newton just enough room to squeeze his bulky frame through a gap & sprint 30 meters to out pace the covering defence to extend the Stocksbridge lead, Newton is kindly sponsored by Mrs Michelle Bell. Pearson again able to tag on a simple conversion. Stocksbridge made a bit of a hash of claiming the resulting kick off, & conceded a penalty, which interestingly the home team chose to kick rather than press home some good territorial advantage. Normal service was resumed as that man Frith interchanged passes with the ‘diesel’ Aspin to score a superb try under the posts to restore the visitors lead, Club Captain Frith is sponsored by Mr Brian & Mrs Dawn Mills, the ever reliable boot of Pearson did the rest. There was still time for Stocksbridge to have a lapse in concentration where some weak defence allowed the home side through to register their 2nd try, leaving the half time score : Nestle Rowntree 13pts – Stocksbridge Rugby 21pts. The merry band of traveling away supporters were sensing a Piggy victory !!
That was the end of the scoring for the visitors as the 2nd stanza was played almost entirely in the Stocksbridge half, even when they gained possession, Stocksbridge found a way to give the ball away & momentum swung back towards the eager home side who made the most of a bungled scrum by Stocksbridge to register their 3rd try & get them back in the arm wrestle. Stocksbridge were desperately holding on, defending for their lives as the thin blue line held firm. Unfortunately further errors gave control back to Nestle, who kicked a further 2 penalties in the dying minutes to steal the win by 3pts, with a final score of : Nestle Rowntree 24pts – Stocksbridge Rugby 21pts. Stocksbridge will have to be content with a single losing bonus point from their penultimate game in Counties 4 Yorkshire competition, which leaves them in 7th position on the league ladder, just 1 pt behind 6th place, with one game left. The Wilson Construction Man of the Match award was presented to line out champ, ‘slammin’ Sam Whitaker for a strong display in the forwards, fellow packmen Newton & Aspin showed up well as did youngster Jacob Crosby in the front row. Skipper Frith reflected on a tough result for his depleted troops when he said, ‘I can’t fault the effort from the lads, it was a tale of 2 halves, where we probably lost the game as against Nestle winning it !’, adding, ‘we just ran out of numbers & out of steam, due to the lack of a full bench, we’ll front up for the last game tho’ ! The final game of the league campaign may well be played at a neutral ground, Shaw Lane Barnsley, on either Thursday 6th or 13th April with a 7pm kick off time, as both Stocksbridge & Halifax will have Cup commitments after these dates.
