Sat 14 Oct 2023
A close game, a gritty performance & a positive attitude was not quite enough to prevent Globe Holidays sponsored Stocksbridge Rugby slipping to another home defeat at the hands of Nestle Rowntree, eventually falling to a nail biting 14pts to 18pts defeat to their visitors from York. A losing bonus point was all that Stocksbridge Rugby had to show for their efforts, & this keeps them just off the bottom of the Yorkshire 4 Counties league ladder. Head Coach Andy Lawrence was fortunate to be able to call on the returning Liam O’Leary to add some go forward, whilst Dan Burt, usually a three quarter slotted nicely into the back row to cover for the injured Pete Newton. ‘slammin’ Sam Whitaker passed a late fitness test & was able to return to the engine room in the 2nd row, & Burly front rower Gary Woodcock was also recalled to the bench. The home side started slowly, & Nestle took advantage of some slack defence to register 2 tries in the first half, plus a couple of penalties to give them a healthy half time lead : Stocksbridge Rugby nil – Nestle Rowntree 18pts
Coach Lawrence offered his words of wisdom at half time & the team seemed to respond, an excellent score by ‘slammin’ Sam Whitaker who plunged over from close range, Whitaker is sponsored by S&M Pipework Ltd, converted by veteran goal kicker Bowskill, who added a further conversion when centre Jack Pearson, sponsored by Stuart’s Karioke Disco, rounded off a neat passage of play to cross the whitewash, to bring Stocksbridge to within 4 points of victory, & plenty of time on the clock. The visitors somehow held out, their experienced forwards seemed to be able to ‘play’ the young inexperienced official, & a combination of poor handling, decision making errors & a keen defence left the final score : Stocksbridge Rugby 14pts – Nestle Rowntree 18pts.
The Man of the Match award, sponsored by The Premier Stone Worktops Ltd went to the returning Liam O’Leary for a strong offensive performance including some punishing breaks off the back of the scrum. Head Coach Andy Lawrence was disappointed with the loss but very positive about the future for his charges, ‘I’d be more concerned if we were losing & playing badly, but we’re not’, he said, adding ‘we are playing a nice brand of rugby with a young developing team. It’s an exciting time to be a player involved in our re-building because I know how good these players will be’. Lawrence also bemoaned the extensive injury list which has robbed him of some senior players, meaning the promising juniors having to accept more responsibility.
Stocksbridge Rugby face a trip to Leeds based Modernians this weekend, with the next game at Coal Pit Lane scheduled for 11th November with a 2.15pm kick off against Hull based Hornsea Rugby. The Clubhouse will be open for the England World Cup semi final on Saturday, along with the traditional Harvest Festival. Stocksbridge also have a bye week on the 4th November, hopefully giving some of the walking wounded time to recover & return to fitness.
The Rugby World Cup Final, hopefully involving England will be shown on the big screen live in the Manchester Road Clubhouse on Saturday 28th October, all are welcome.
Report written by Andrew Tyers.
