The Coal Pit Lane stadium was affected by a swirling breeze, & the home side were without injured forwards Newton, Beal & Connor Brown, & backs David Brown & Kazmierski. Wingman Ben Westby was a late withdrawal due to work commitments. Dan Lowe & David Potts were recalled to the back line, whilst evergreen Ricky Christopherson slotted in nicely at full back. Student Mike Quinn & Gaz Webb were rewarded for their recent efforts in the development XV with selection to the interchange bench.

There were handling errors from both sides almost from the start, as neither side could gain any decent possession or dominate territory. The wind made kicking hazardous & the visitors had the benefit during the first half. From a routine defensive line out, the Stocksbridge jumper failed to collect the throw, & in turn delivered a poor service to scrum half Frith, his pass missed fly half Bowskill & in a comedy of errors was scooped up by the Pythons back line to beat the despairing Lowe out wide to open the scoring, fortunately too wide to convert. Stocksbridge have been playing an exciting brand of rugby in recent times however, the team ethic seemed to be lacking & too many poor decisions lead to errors & loss of possession.

The wily visiting scrum half was a thorn in the Piggy’s side all afternoon, & he cleverly switched play & caught the blind side defence napping, collecting his own chip kick to put the visitors further ahead, again the wind came to the rescue to foil the conversion attempt.
Winger Jones was withdrawn as a disciplinary measure for some back chat to the coaching staff, & a warning to all players. New father James ‘Chopsy’ Lambert was replaced by the rampaging bull Joe Smith, & when Stocksbridge Rugby were able to retain possession, go through some phases & get their off load game going, they were rewarded with a try by veteran Nigel Dowkes, rolling over from close range after some clinical forward play. Bowskill was not troubled by the wind & converted to leave the half time score Stocksbridge Rugby 7 – Harrogate Pythons 10.

The home side dominated most of the second half, & kicked well with the wind to keep the Pythons penned in their own 20 metre zone. A succession of scrum penalties really should have resulted in a penalty try for Stocksbridge Rugby, but the referee took a lenient approach to the visitors. Dowkes claimed another push over try, but was left disappointed when the official didn’t see it that way. Out wide, centre O’Leary was also beginning to make inroads with his charging runs, & an opportunity was missed when he ignored the supporting Potts & Lowe, who would have surely scored.

Christopherson ran the ball back well from full back, & sliced the defence open with a vintage bit of deft handling, but Lowe couldn’t quite hang on to the pass & another try scoring opportunity went begging. Stocksbridge Rugby took the lead when skipper Keenan latched on to the back of another rolling maul to barrel his way over, for what proved to be the match winning try. Harrogate tried to snatch the game with a couple of long range penalty efforts late on, again they were foiled by the breeze. Stocksbridge will be pleased with the result, but less so with the performance which had a distinct end of season ring to it. A final score of 12 points to 10 gave the Piggy’s a hard fought double over the Pythons, who were very welcome visitors in the Stocksbridge Clubhouse for the evening. Head Coach Tyers wasn’t too impressed with the performance, but pleased to get another win, “we have been lucky against the Pythons in both games, but it wasn’t a classic display from us today” he said, adding “we would have welcomed a win like this in the early part of the season, so it’s a measure of our progress as a squad that we are not satisfied with just a win”.

Stocksbridge Rugby travel to newly promoted Castleford for their final league encounter of the season this weekend, & skipper Keenan is determined to ruin their party “ we have worked hard this season, & improved as individuals & as a Team, our season doesn’t finish until AFTER the last game, & I will be making sure of it” he snarled. The man of the match award went to captain Keenan himself, sponsored by Club Secretary Mick Gribbins, Keenan also won the Coaches award during the Sponsors presentation afterwards. Sam Whitaker (sponsored by Olympia Protein) won the try of the season, Joe Smith the champagne moment & David Brown the club’s newcomer of the Year. Les Frith was voted the club’s super fan by the players.

In other club news, Stocksbridge Rugby are pleased to announce they have been awarded a grant of £2,000 by Stocksbridge Town Council towards the cost of the internal fittings for the new changing room complex currently under construction, & there will be a reception on 21st May to receive the cheque. A Club spokesman said “we are very grateful to the local town council for their support, & will invite the Mayor to attend the opening ceremony hopefully for the start of next season”. This further award will add to the kind donations from the Bridge Community Shop & Freshgate Trust Foundation, who have both showed their support for the community club recently.

Club Dinner – The Annual Club dinner, now confirmed for Tankersley Manor on 1st May is very nearly sold out, & England Coach Graham Rowntree is proving a big attraction for sponsors & guests aswell as club members

Report by Andy Tyers, Head Coach