Thu 10 Apr 2025, 18:30
Globe Holidays sponsored Stocksbridge Rugby hosted visitors Wath RUFC in the semi-final first leg of the mid-week Cup competition, & despite a performance full of effort & commitment, they went down by 22pts to 42pts, leaving them with an uphill task in the second leg, away next week (Wednesday).
New prop forward Will Cuttell retained his starting position in the front row, alongside burly colleague Woodcock, whilst there was a recall for young flier Cole Staley-Howson, & hard working back rower Reece 'diesel' Aspin after a knee issue. Veteran forward Ricky 'rooney' James was named on the bench for his first outing for 6mths & youngster Jacob 'bing' Crosby also added some bulk to the bench. Playing with the slope, Stocksbridge started well, & that man Adam Frith took advantage of a quick tap penalty to open the Wath defence up, a well timed pass allowed twinkle toe'd Jack Leary to skip thru the last line of defence & open the scoring for the home side. Unfortunately, the luckless Aspin appeared to fall awkwardly in the previous line out & was taken to hospital with what was later confirmed as a broken bone in his foot. The visitors looked dangerous in attack, & while the blue wall defended well, missed tackles resulted in 3 converted tries for Wath, including a killer score just on the half time whistle. Half Time : Stocksbridge Rugby 5pts - Wath RUFC 21pts.
A few stern words from the Coaching staff & a bit of a refocus on the basics gave the home side renewed confidence in the 2nd stanza, youngster Max Bevan finished off a superb rolling maul with a score, & promising winger Staley-Howson showed his pace to scamper in the corner, finishing off a sweeping back line move. Stocksbridge had the edge & the visitors were clearly rattled, Callum 'whippet' Green a thorn in their side on both sides of the ball, with George Watts working tirelessly in the loose, & that man Frith sniping at the base of the breakdowns. A lost scrum & a missed tackle again allowed Wath to increase their lead, before another break from Frith, & an outstretched arm, just made the whitewash for another Stocksbridge score, Bowskill converting, to bring the home side withing 2 scores of their visitors. Wath also had a player yellow carded for persistent offside, & they were fortunate that it was just the one card shown !! Injuries took their toll on the luckless home side, Mason Goldsworth was forced to leave the field with a broken ankle, & talismanic skipper Andy 'clock tower' Beal along with fellow 2nd rower 'slammin' Sam Whitaker were also forced from the field with shoulder & quad injuries respectively, & at one scrum the home side had no less than 5 natural prop forwards forming their pack ! The time spent defending & the injuries contributed to a tiring Stocksbridge side conceding a further try on the final whistle, leaving a slightly flattering final score of : Stocksbridge Rugby 22pts - Wath RUFC 42pts. With a mountain to climb next week if Stocksbridge are to progress to the final of this competition.
Most of the home players had a dig, & Staley-Howson, Watts, Bevan along with Green can be proud of their efforts however the All Property Solutions player of the match for Stocksbridge was that man Adam Frith for a gritty & skilful display under intense pressure. Frith is kindly sponsored by Brian Mills Decorating Services.
Club Captain Beal was rightly proud of his charges afterwards as he reflected, 'Wath are a good , well drilled side, but we matched them in large parts of this game. It shows how far we have come when we can compete with teams such as this.' before adding, 'we'll dust ourselves down & have another go at them next week, this team has a bit of character about it !.'
Written by Andrew Tyers
