Sat 16 Mar 2024
A trip to the East of Doncaster to face Thornensians RUFC proved a bridge too far for gallant & Globe Holidays sponsored Stocksbridge Rugby at the weekend, where despite some heroic tackling & committed scrambling defence, they managed to ship 7 tries, eventually falling to a 40pts to 5 pts defeat in their final away league fixture of the Counties4 Yorkshire (phase 2) South season. Stocksbridge were forced to defend almost from the kick off, as the home side looked for early points, but the visitors held firm with some great defensive plays & clearance kicks from Spencer & promising young fly half Leary. Stocksbridge held relatively firmly until the 20th minute, when a sweeping back line play created space for the home left winger to touch down in the corner. A shoulder injury to young flier Logan Hannah forced him from the field to be replaced by Connor Price, as Stocksbridge conceded further tries when their defensive unit left too many holes for the home side to attack. Stocksbridge did have some joy in possession with another youngster Harrison Norman making inroads with some mazey running, which created an opportunity for the forwards to rumble into their opponents, resulting in a barnstorming try for the burly Gary Woodcock, Woodcock is kindly sponsored by Valley Property Services. The unfortunate Jack Leary ran out of the allotted time for the conversion, & we reached the break with the score of : Thornensians RUFC 21pts – Stocksbridge Rugby 5 pts.
It was a similar pattern in the 2nd stanza however, the Stocksbridge front row union of ‘eggsy’ Bowman, ‘milky’ Martin & younger Brother ‘half pint’ Martin all performed superbly, forcing the hosts to change their own front row combination on 2 separate occasions ! Veteran Ricky Christopherson has some fast talking to do when explaining to the official that his ‘alleged’ high tackle was an accident, & he succeeded in avoiding a yellow card. Thorne scored 3 further tries as the Blue Wall fatigued, leaving a final scoreline of : Thornensians RUFC 40pts – Stocksbridge Rugby 5pts, which was not a fair reflection of the game itself. Stocksbridge competed well for large parts of the game, & the occasional missed tackle or poor defensive alignment was pounced on by a more experienced opponent. ‘the boys defended manfully & never stopped trying for the full 80 minutes’ , said ‘clock tower’ & Vice Captain Andy Beal afterwards, before adding ‘our younger lads are developing game by game & the future looks bright if we can keep hold of these young guns’.
Despite some committed & brave displays by Skipper Frith, Bowman, Beal & them Martin boys, exciting young prospect Harrsion Norman, kindly sponsored by Mrs Diane Woodcock, took the Asphalt Grid Systems Man of the Match award for his eye catching runs & clever turn of pace to frighten the Thorne defence time & time again.
Ironically, Stocksbridge face the same opponents again in next weeks reverse fixture at the Coal Pit Lane Arena, with a 3pm kick off, in their final league fixture of a tough, but committed campaign.
A date for your diaries & the Club’s annual awards night ceremony will be held in the Manchester Road Headquarters on Friday 25th April, all members are invited to celebrate the passing season.
Report written by Andrew Tyers
