Sat 23 Mar 2024
On a cold, wet, blustery afternoon at the Coal Pit Lane Arena, visitors Thornensians proved too strong & too streetwise for Globe Holidays sponsored Stocksbridge Rugby, easing to a 17pts to nil victory in the Yorkshire 4 Counties (Phase 2) South competition. This was an improvement on the previous week’s showing, & the more familiar home surroundings, sponsored by Premier Stone Worktops Ltd, helped the Stocksbridge performance. The conditions made open, flowing rugby next to impossible, & the gusting cross winds made a mockery of any worthwhile kicking game but, both sides showed great effort & commitment to produce a contest. Stocksbridge started well & applied some good early pressure with ‘clock tower’ Beal & the burly Gary Woodcock threatening with the ball. Joe ‘milky’ Martin was busy on both sides of the ball, but the conditions favoured a tight forwards game & the talented, pacey Stocksbridge threequarter line were starved of any decent opportunity. When the visitors gained some ascendancy, Stocksbridge were penalised for trying to slow the breakdowns & creeping up offside. The Official’s patience finally snapped when, on the stroke of half time, Jack Spencer overstepped the line once too often, & was given a yellow card & ten minutes in the sin bin for his troubles. The first half remained scoreless.
The second half was played almost entirely in the Stocksbridge half, with Thorne enjoying more & more possession & the home blue wall looking increasing thin ! Despite great defensive displays from young Jacob ‘bing’ Crosby, & centres Harrison Norman & Mason Goldsworthy, backed up by the industrious Reece ‘diesel’ Aspin & them ‘milky’ Martin boys, the visitors took advantage of their superior numbers to run in 2 quick tries, the second being a rather fortunate bounce to take the lead. There was even time for the visiting Hooker to dive for the tryline & celebrate a score, only to realise he had crossed a ‘slit’ line & was still short of the mark !! Spencer returned to add more steel to the defence, & Head Coach Andy Lawrence introduced old war horse Ricky Christopherson to 0rovide some guile around the breakdown, but it was all to no avail, with Stocksbridge rarely threatening the visitors tryline, & losing possession when they did get close. Final score : Stocksbridge Rugby nil – Thornensians RUFC 17pts, & Stocksbridge stay rooted to the bottom of the league ladder with just 1 fixture left in the competition. Stocksbridge will have a break over the Easter period & then travel to West Yorkshire to face Leeds Modernians for a very winnable last game.
Gary Woodcock, sponsored by Valley Property Services won the Funding Solutions Man of the Match award for a committed & physical display with Beal, that man Frith & Josh Kerr all showing up well. It was probably a day to forget for most of the Stocksbridge back line, the weather was their greatest enemy.
‘we didn’t do the basics well enough in the poor conditions’, reflected Head Coach Andy Lawrence, adding, ‘they probably adapted better than we did, although once again we showed tremendous spirit right until the end’.
Written by Amdrew Tyers
