It was a disastrous start for Stocksbridge after what had been an intense and efficient warm up. Under seemingly no threat the Mods inside centre picked the ball from the ruck and galloped away to score a 40 metre try in the opening moments of the game.

Stocksbridge were able to return fire with a penalty goal from Scott Bowskill, making the scores 5-3. Stocksbridge made ground working down the harsh slope, the forwards getting agonisingly close to the line before being penalised at the break down. Moments later, Mods had cleared and were creating pressure of their own upfield.

Again, seemingly out of nowhere, the scrum half sniped and beat several defenders with a looping run to increase their lead to 12-3. As their frustration grew, Stocksbridge were questionably penalised once more for holding on and the lead was increased by a further 3 points.

The final blow of the half was dealt by Stocksbridge, as with time gone Bowskill kicked a wonderful penalty from just inside the Mods half.

Going in behind at the break with 40 minutes to play uphill presented a tough challenge for the pigs, and unfortunately the start was again not one they were looking. An early score for Mods finding space through hands down the right hand side threatened to take the game away from the away side.

Shortly afterwards Mods again found themselves deep in Stocksbridge territory, with a line out 5 metres from the line. A well executed driving maul provided them with a further converted score, as the outcome began to look bleak for the Bridge.

Stocksbridge found it difficult to threaten Mods during the half, as the home side routinely hammered the ball down the hill into the bottom corner to stay in control of the game.

As first up tackles became less effective Mods ran in a further four tries before the referee called time on the game, leaving the final score 53-6.

On a tough day for the lads Lewis Bowman was awarded Man of the Match for his tireless effort in the face of adversity. Stocksbridge will be hoping for results in abundance in 2017 to boost their hopes of moving up the table.