Sat 5 Mar 2022
Another trip to York to face Nestle Rowntree in round 3 of the Yorkshire Division 4 Premiership play off’s ended in a glorious defeat for Globe Holiday’s sponsored Stocksbridge Rugby at the weekend. Missing Sam Whitaker, Ryan Smith & Dan Burt, but featuring a few new faces, along with the returning Ricky James (prop) & ‘clock tower’ Andy Beal in the engine room, Steve Hawksworth made his 1st start of the Year, partnering Ben Tyers to form a strong defensive partnership in the centres. Stocksbridge began well, & seemed to adapt to the blustery conditions, & heavy pitch better than the home side, they pinned the home side in their red zone for some time but just couldn’t find the killer pass to open the scoring. Almost from their 1st attacking foray the home side found some width to out flank the visitors & open the scoring in the corner. More possession & more territory for Stocksbridge again failed to turn into points, as first Beal, then Rowett went close, & a scoring opportunities were spurned by a mixture of poor decision making & sloppy skills execution. A killer blow right at the end of the 1st half when a poor defensive read allowed the home side’s hooker space to scamper over the line, leaving the half time score Nestle Rowntree 12pts – Stocksbridge Rugby nil.
With the game clearly still there for the taking, Stocksbridge dominated the 2nd stanza & eventually the ‘big rig’ Liam Roebuck plunged over from close range after good work from Woodcock, Bowman & that man Frith at the base. Nestle kicked a penalty following a ruck infringement, & these points were to prove crucial. Still the visitors pushed hard & were further rewarded when skipper Roles-Middlehurst, kindly sponsored by Mr Mick Taylor, finished off a glorious handling move to dive over in the corner, again just too far out for Bowskill to convert. Although Stocksbridge tried hard, the home side were rewarded for their defensive efforts, & injuries to Aspin (cramp), Newton (back) & Hartley (shoulder) along with Fletcher (ankle) all took their toll as Stocksbridge fell agonisingly short at the final whistle : Nestle Rowntree 15pts – Stocksbridge Rugby 10pts, & just a losing bonus point to show for their efforts.
The Fox Catering Man of the Match award was awarded to Jordan ‘spud’ Fletcher, sponsored by Ellie’s Sandwich Shop, for a dominant physical effort, with Woodcock, Bowman & Frith also featuring highly in the reckoning. Not much time for the 1st XV squad to lick their wounds, as they are back in action this weekend, with league leaders Thirsk Rugby the highly fancied visitors to Coal Pit Lane on Saturday, kick off 3pm. Stocksbridge will be hoping their walking wounded are healed in time for the round 4 clash.
A frustrated Director of Rugby, Andy Tyers said afterwards, ‘our effort & attitude was first class, & we created enough opportunity to win here’, adding ‘we know we should have taken the points, but credit to their defence for hanging on’.
The Club’s Development XV, or ‘Lockers Legends’ were also in action against a suspiciously strong Huddersfield 3rd XV, & despite a gutsy performance, they eventually went down by 49pts – to nil, veteran flyer Ben Senior starred as the home side’s Charlesworth Landscapes Player of the Day.
