Round 21 of Yorkshire Division Three saw Bradfield Brewery sponsored Stocksbridge Rugby entertain rivals Baildon, with the Pigs gunning for revenge after a woeful early season display in the corresponding fixture.

With stalwart prop Ricky James unavailable, & Ben Brown only passed fit just before kick off, young prop Connor Brown was recalled to 1st XV action, in an otherwise unchanged squad from the previous week.

Good playing conditions & another sizeable crowd heightened expectations of Stocksbridge Rugby making it three wins in a row, & 8 from their last 11 games during a resurgence in form & attitude.

The home side started brightly with fly half Bowskill kicking for position from clean ball provided by the forward pack, lead from the front by skipper Ryhs Keenan. Stocksbridge Rugby dominated both territory & possession, & their off load game caused problems for a resolute Baildon defence.

Centres Davey ‘boy’ Brown & Liam O’Leary made inroads towards the opposition try line, after good work from Newton & Whitaker teaming up in the loose. Jones was help up just short of the line, after a fine right side break & some smart handling by both forwards & backs.

Baildon offered little in attack & when they did have possession, they were halted by an aggressive home defence, who had brushed up on their tackle technique during the week’s training. David Brown slamming the visiting fly half firmly into the mud sent a shiver thru the rest of the visiting ranks.

Ben Brown’s suspect shoulder gave way & Connor Brown did his case no harm at all with a barnstorming shift to grease the wheels, back in the front row. The set piece began to dominate further & Scotty Bowskill coolly slotted the first of his 6 penalties for an infringement, as the pressure began to tell.

The Stocksbridge Tower that is Andy Beal controlled the line out, & the visitors were forced to concede further penalties on 17mins & 20mins, as the rolling maul gained momentum. Bowskill made no mistake with either kick.

The visitors kicked aimlessly & gave possession away cheaply, allowing the ‘Deepcar Express’ Kazmierski to eat up ground as he glided thru the would be defenders to turn defence in attack, time after time. Still the desperate defence held up & another Bowskill penalty increased the lead.

On a rare foray into Stocksbridge Rugby territory, Baildon were awarded & converted a penalty, as Rowett’s foot work indiscretion was spotted by the official. The last play of the half again went to the home side with Bowskill making light of a difficult breeze to restore a 12 point advantage.

Half Time Stocksbridge Rugby 15 points – Baildon 3 points, with the visitors clearly hanging on.

The 2nd stanza was almost attack versus defence, as wave after wave of Stocksbridge pressure was soaked up by the overworked Baildon defence. The home side played some quality rugby, but still couldn’t get over the try line. A series of attacking scrums ended in disappointment as the visitors held on with some delaying tactics, slowing down the rucks & being allowed to get away with it. Bowskill was just wide with another penalty effort, but recorded a further 3pts shortly after, again judging the wind perfectly. A couple of quick thinking taps from penalties nearly brought reward for livewire scrum half Adam Frith. Stocksbridge Rugby maintained their dominance & in truth Baildon rarely threatened however, the game eventually fizzled out, with a try less final scoreline of Stocksbridge Rugby 18 pts & Baildon 3 pts, with safety now virtually assured.

Sammy Whitaker, sponsored by Trevor Chrouch of Olympia Protein claimed the Man of the Match award with an impressive all round display, with Kazmierski & both centres ‘bossing’ their opposition.

This was an impressive team performance, even without the tries & skipper Keenan was in a positive mood afterwards ‘ we had a job to do & we did it’ he said bullishly ‘ that we’re disappointed not to score any tries says a lot about the standards & expectations of this group now’

Head Coach, Andy Tyers commented ‘we worked hard in training this week to fix a few things up, particularly in defence, so no tries conceded is a reward’ adding ‘we are still improving & there is a massive performance coming soon, I just don’t know when’

Stocksbridge Rugby are on the road again this weekend with a tricky trip to lowly Hemsworth, but Tyers has warned his troops ‘this will be a physical contest, so we need to be ready. There will be no let up in camp this week’