With supremo Keenan absent due to personal reasons, it was left to his deputy Tyers to prepare the squad.

In came Jason Booth to bolster the front row, whilst a strong bench had clock tower Andy Beal, & young flyer Connor Price eager for game time. Playing up the slope in the first half, Stocksbridge initially defended well as the visitors saw most of the ball however a crack appeared in the Blue line, & Rods drew first blood with a converted try after 5 minutes. The remaining 35minutes of the first half were played almost exclusively in the visitors 20 metre zone, with attack after attack being repelled with some stout & committed tackling. Stocksbridge piled on the pressure, but became their own worst enemies as a combination of dropped balls, & wrong options added to the frustration. Bowskill slotted a simple penalty to get the home side on the scoreboard, & with the last play of the half, a cheeky tap penalty by that man Frith lead to slammin Sam Whitaker plunging over the line from close range to celebrate his birthday with a much needed try, Bowskill tagging on the extras for good measure.

The efforts of the 1st half seemed to drain the visitors for the 2nd stanza, & Stocksbridge produced a feast of running rugby to entertain the sizable Coal Pit Lane crowd. Young Jack ‘milky’ Martin scored his first try in senior rugby after some good interplay between the forwards, then Stocksbridge were awarded a penalty try as the scrum rumbled towards the try line, when a stray visiting boot kicked the ball away, earning the perpetrator a yellow card for his actions. This was followed moments later by further yellow card for the visitors for illegal use of the knee in a ruck, Fletcher the innocent victim in this incident. Stocksbridge capitalized on their numbers superiority & hooker Mikey Hartley was inches away from a score when chasing a grubber kick thru the line, his swan like dive was worth the entrance fee alone !!

More Stocksbridge pressure & hard working flanker Pete Newton was next on the scoresheet, finishing off another forwards move in some style, again Bowskill converted. Almost immediately, & well against the run of play the Stocksbridge mid field missed their tackles & allowed Rods another, consolation score in the process. Another bullocking charge from burly Gary Woodcock was ended when the diminuitive visiting fly half somehow wrapped himself around the lower half of the props body & felled him, like a buffalo on the African plains. The excellent Jordan Fletcher was also upended as he broke clear with just the full back to beat. Next on the scoresheet was the impressive Adam Middlehurst, latching on to a Jack Spencer pass to race away & outpace the beleaguered defence, Bowskill again on target with the conversion. Stocksbridge even had time to lose an uncontested scrum with head & feed however, the final score was a beauty, Bowskill neatly chipping the defence for centre Pat O’Leary to gather & crash over the line, leaving the final score Stocksbridge Rugby 43pts – Stanley Rodillians 14pts.

Despite some impressive performances from that man Frith, the consistent Whitaker, the bustling Pete Newton & the nippy Middlehurst, the Oughtibridge Kitchens Man of the Match award went to Jordan ‘spud’ Fletcher for a huge all round performance, finally fulfilling his obvious potential.

Director of Rugby, Andy Tyers said ‘it was a good performance, & a massive improvement on our last efforts’ adding ‘these are the standards the boys are setting, & I expect this to continue into 2020’

Stocksbridge will now enjoy the Christmas break, & prepare for a tough opener for 2020 with a mouth watering away trip to rivals Mosborough Rugby, who will be gunning for revenge for an earlier defeat at Coal Pit Lane.

Match report by Andy Tyers | Director of Rugby