Sat 12 Oct 2024
Round 5 of the Counties 4 Yorkshire South competition saw Globe Holidays sponsored Stocksbridge Rugby make their 5 successive away trip, due to drainage works on their own Coal Pit Lane Arena pitches, this time down the M18 to basement club Maltby RUFC, where an enthusiastic & tigerish home team held their nerve to eventually run out winners by 18pts to 13pts. Did Maltby win this clash or did Stocksbridge throw it away ? Veteran forward Ricky ‘rooney’ James failed a late fitness test on a troublesome back issue however, player coach Aaron Kaye was able to welcome back that man Adam Frith to partner Jack Spencer at half back, along with Harrison ‘the storm’ Norman who formed an exciting partnership with ‘el torro’ Liam O’Leary in the centres. The ‘big rig’ Liam Roebuck joined club skipper Andy ‘clock tower’ Beal in the boiler room, whilst young speedster Fin Dodsworth was recalled to the wing. Playing up a considerable slope in the first half, the defensive ‘blue wall’ stood up well to an initial onslaught from the home side, & from a rare breakaway Stocksbridge took the lead with a simple penalty converted by veteran goalkicker Scotty Bowskill. Burly prop Gary Woodcock suffered a leg injury & was replaced by youngster Jacob ‘bing’ Crosby who produced a strong defensive display. After having a try disallowed, Maltby drew level with a penalty of their own after rampaging prop Joe Smith was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes for dissent. Still the hard working visitors held the busy home team at bay, & when Stocksbridge worked their way upfield Reece ‘diesel’ Aspin was halted close to the line, as a home forward was lucky to receive only a yellow card for a deliberate knee to the head. Stocksbridge had a period of dominance, & territory & player/coach Kaye was held up over the try line when looking to score. The restart caught the wind, & O’Leary was forced to back peddle almost to his own try line to collect the rolling ball, his clearing kick fell into the arms of a willing Maltby runner, & after a couple of phases & on the stroke of half time the ‘blue wall’ was breached for a home try, & a controversial conversion with the attempt clearly missing the goal. Half Time : Maltby RUFC 10pts – Stocksbridge Rugby 3pts.
With the conditions in their favour, some feeble defence allowed the home side freedom to attack early in the 2nd Stanza, & they increased their lead with a penalty for a Stocksbridge indiscretion. The visitors couldn’t seem to get their attacking shape right, & too often they lost the ball, missed their line outs & generally gave Maltby a way out of their half with some average basic skills. O’Leary & Norman linked well, when the ball eventually reached the midfield & good ground was gained, the home side were forced to concede a penalty & Bowskill added a further 3pts to keep Stocksbridge in the game. Stocksbridge piled on the pressure, but all too often basic errors let Maltby off the hook. Beal, Smith & O’Leary all went close before Stocksbridge were dispossessed & the Maltby winger outflanked the covering defence to score in the corner, although there was some doubt about the player being in touch in the act of scoring. Stocksbridge never threw the towel in despite an error ridden 2nd half, & eventually they were rewarded with a trademark try from Liam O’Leary bustling over from close range after a well worked penalty move, Bowskill was on hand to convert to bring Stocksbridge within 5pts of their tiring hosts. Try as they might, the visitors just lacked the vision to complete the victory & the final play saw Stocksbridge bungle a clear overlap which would have secured an unlikely victory. The final score : Maltby RUFC 18pts – Stocksbridge Rugby 13pts gave the visitors at least a losing bonus point, & they remain 5th in the league ladder.
Liam O’Leary was awarded the All Property Solutions Man of the Match for a committed display, & of course the try, but many on the playing roster will know they could & should have produced better individual performances. A disappointed Head Coach, Aaron Kaye said afterwards, ‘We didn’t lack for effort, but we must sharpen up our first up tackling & ball retention. We will be addressing these areas during training this week’, before adding, ‘we’re certainly ready for a game on our own patch, & I want the boys to reflect on their performances & where we can all do better for next time out’. Club Caption Beal said, ‘it feels like we let them off the hook, & we need to take our chances, we’ll look forward to the next fixture & the opportunity to right the wrongs of this week’. With another week off this weekend, the playing roster will be able to lick their wounds as they prepare for the 1st home fixture of the season with the visit of Hessle RUFC on Saturday 26th September, with a 3pm kick off. To celebrate the completion of the pitch drainage works entry is free of charge, & the Club expects a bumper crowd.
Written by Andrew Tyers
