The new rugby season saw Stocksbridge host last Year's runaway Division 4 Champions Wetherby in the first Yorkshire League Division 3 clash of the season.
With the club's new changing facilities now fully open, a healthy crowd gathered on a pleasant day for rugby. Wayne Hirst was drafted in on the bench as a late replacement for Ricky James, & Head Coach Tyers gave league debuts to former Rotherham Titan, Jason Hirst in the back row, with young Tom Hughes, Craig Donaldson & Damien Pope also on the interchange bench.
Stocksbridge Rugby dominated the opening exchanges, with their huge pack forcing the visitors to concede early penalties & ice cool Vice Captain Adam Frith opened the scoring in the 7th minute with a well taken shot at goal. This seemed to stir Wetherby into life, & an aimless kick was well fielded by the visiting full back who was a thorn in the Piggy's side all afternoon, he stepped a couple of would tacklers & set up the first try of the afternoon to give Wetherby the lead. Big Sam Whitaker was withdrawn in the 9th minute due to concussion & was replaced by the eager Craig Donaldson.
The Stocksbridge pack are a formidable unit, & their size, power & effort bulldozed the visiting forwards backwards at a rate of knots in both the loose & tight play, the opposing prop given a yellow card as he struggled to cope legally with the power & pressure of the mighty Stocksbridge scrum.
It was no surprise that a rampant home 8 drove their opponents over their try line & Ben Brown skilfully controlled the ball at the back of the scrum to claim the first league try of the season, Frith was accurate with the boot,& Stocksbridge Rugby nudged ahead.
Wetherby's back line looked dangerous every time they had possession, & couple with some poor tackling, they regained the lead in the 23rd minute when their speedy winger outpaced the covering defence to score in the corner, too far out for the kicker to add the extras.
Again the big home forwards rumbled on, Brown & Donaldson made good yards, & Skipper Keenan was busy in the loose play, whilst veteran Chopsy Lambert & the burly Joe Smith destroyed the Wetherby front row time after time. This allowed rampaging centre Dave Brown room to make further inroads deep in the visitors half & Stocksbridge were awarded a scrum 10 metres out. A couple of re-sets later, the pressure was really telling & when the visiting pack crumpled again, the referee had no hesitation in awarding Stocksbridge a penalty try, a reward for the forward dominance, Frith converted as half time approached. The home side seemed to stop for the break a bit too early, & a moments lack of concentration cost them dearly as the opposing centre crashed through for a further try, leaving the half time score Stocksbridge Rugby 17pts - Wetherby 19pts, & all to play for.
Donaldson succumbed to injury at half time & was replaced by Pope, with veteran half back Ricky Christopherson also giving way to Scotty Bowskill.
Whatever was in the half time oranges certainly worked for Wetherby as they ran in 7 tries in a very disappointing & one sided second stanza. The Stocksbridge pack simply ran out of steam, & struggled to gain any decent possession. This in turn starved the backs of any ball or good territory & Wetherby began to play some fine expansive rugby of their own. Perhaps sensing the disintegration of the once dominant home pack, they poured on the points & misery for the home side, who looked distinctly average after an encouraging first half.
Dave Brown scored a consolation try for Stocksbridge pouncing on a loose ball, but this was still not enough to salvage even a losing bonus point, a final scoreline of Stocksbridge Rugby 22pts - Wetherby 68pts, shows the home side still have much work to do on the training paddock.
Head Coach Andy Tyers said 'We were pretty good for 35 minutes or so, then just ran out of steam. Wetherby will be one of the top sides in this Year's comp, so these are the standards we will have to achieve to compete with the best' adding 'we need to take a look at ourselves, it seems some of the boys are cutting corners in their training, & we showed a worrying lack of stamina today. We were also a bit soft in defence, but it's nothing we can't fix in training.'. David Brown was the Bradfield Brewery man of the match for a robust display in a losing cause, but none of the team gave a display they could be proud of.
'We have a chance to put things right next week' barked skipper Keenan '& we'll be looking for a positive reaction away at Rotherham Phoenix' as Stocksbridge Rugby make the short journey for their first away league fixture of the season.

Thanks

Andy Tyers
Head Coach
Stocksbridge Rugby