Stocksbridge RUFC

This was a local derby, in which Stocksbridge were dominant, thanks to sterling work by their pack, but come the end of the season they may rue their inability to score a 4th try and earn a bonus point.
They opened well enough and Tony Plusa just lost the ball forward as he reached for the line. A Ben Walters penalty came up short, but because of Peter Newton pressure, the visitors were unable to clear. The resultant scrum saw a Bridge attacking wheel and Adam Firth pounced on the loose ball to open his score for the season. Walters added the conversion as he did five minutes later, when Andy Beal was held a foot short and Ricky James made the hard 12 inches to score under the posts. The home side were somewhat disrupted when Walters had to go off with a leg injury, but a Scot Bowskill penalty extended the lead to 17-0 at the break.
The second half lost direction as Stocksbridge became complacent and Oaks made handling errors on what little possession they won. A neatly worked short penalty saw John Walker careering through Oak’s defensive wall scattering them like acorns and when he was held just short Andy Beal was on hand to dive over.
The home side, now inexplicably, shut up shop and with the back row running out of steam, Oaks showed they could play. A fine handling move down the left saw Mudd go over wide out Aaron Brown converting. Then a defensive disorganisation after a quickly taken penalty and a missed tackle in the centre saw Almond touching down under the posts Brown adding the conversion. This meant Oaks came away with a defensive bonus point for being within 8pts at the final whistle.

by Nigel George