Still without several 1st team regulars thru injury, Keenan recalled Aaron Brown to partner Jack Spencer at half back, Luke Gentles earned a starting berth on the wing, & Jonathan Gill was given his senior debut. The pitch was a ‘glue pot’, & a swirling wind added to the difficulties of facing the league leaders on their own patch. Despite some early encouragement with skipper Rowett leading the way, & the bulky Gary Woodcock causing mayhem in the loose, it was the home team who took the lead as they outflanked the visitors with just about their first serious attack to score under the posts. Stocksbridge responded, going thru the phases with Whitaker & Pete Newton linking up well, & going close. Scrum half Brown kept the forwards on the offensive, & the dominant Stocksbridge scrum ensured a good supply of ball. Bramley cleared their lines as far as Bowskill, who found space to release veteran flyer Joe Jones with a turn of pace from yesteryear to create an opportunity, which resulted in the home side conceding a penalty, with the difficult conditions proving just too much for Bowskills goal kicking to overcome. Bramley attacked & a well worked backs move produced some excellent handling & off loading to breach the Stocksbridge defence & increase their lead at a crucial point just before half time. Leaving the score Bramley Phoenix 14 pts – Stocksbridge Rugby nil.

Keenan introduced the burly figure of Liam Roebuck, along with himself to add more weight to the scrum, as around 85% of the 2nd stanza was played in the Bramley half, with around 30 minutes of dominant Stocksbridge scrumming in the ever worsening, muddy conditions. The luckless Reese ‘diesel’ Aspin succumbed to a shoulder injury, & was replaced by the young & improving Jack ‘milky’ Martin. Scrum after scrum, & penalty after penalty eventually pushed the official too far, & the Stocksbridge efforts were rightly rewarded with a 7pt penalty try, & the game for the taking. A similar pattern followed, the same events, the same indiscretions, but for some unexplained reason, not the same result !! The might scrum effort totally dominated, but Stocksbridge were unable to add to the points total, as skipper Rowett was replaced by debutant Jonathan Gill. The inconsistent official did yellow card a home player for persistent offending however, still no further sanctions were forthcoming. With time running out, the home side just about hung on & were mighty relieved to hear the final whistle with Stocksbridge winning the 2nd half but losing the match by 14pts to 7pts.

‘Heartbreaking on valentines weekend’ was how supremo Keenan described the result ‘we were the better side, & deserved to win. These are the top of the table & we outplayed them all over their own park’ he said. The team can take a mixture of pride in their performance, along with massive disappointment as they should have won. A trojan effort from back rower Pete Newton, sponsored by S&M Pipe work secured him the Bradfield Brewery man of the match award, with Middlehurst, Whitaker & Woodcock also producing the goods. Stocksbridge Rugby get a week off this week, as they prepare for round 4 of the play offs with Halifax Rugby the next visitors to Coal Pit Lane on 29th February, kick off is 2.15pm, entry is free.

Match report by Andy Tyers | Director of Rugby