Sat 15 Oct 2022
A trip to West Yorkshire to visit 3rd placed Aireborough proved to be a tough assignment for plucky, Globe Holidays sponsored Stocksbridge Rugby, as they eventually went down to a 31pts to 11pts defeat at the hands of their hosts.
Travel difficulties lead to a shortened warm up for Head Coach Andy Lawrence’s troops, & the home side took an early advantage to outflank the Stocksbridge defence to register their 1st try in the corner. Experienced fly half Scotty Bowskill got Stocksbridge on the score sheet with a simple penalty after an offside call however, the home side increased their lead with a further score, after a mid-field line break. Bowskill kept the visitors in touch with a further successful penalty kick, before burly prop Gary Woodcock was sent to the sin bin after a high tackle. Ben Tyers playing at full back, made some telling cover tackles as Aireborough looked to take advantage, although busy centre Jack Pearson was unlucky not to score after pouncing on a clever grubber kick from Bowskill as Stocksbridge continued to play through the wider channels. Half time : Aireborough 12pts – Stocksbridge Rugby 6 pts.
The 2nd half was a scrappy affair with neither side gaining any real dominance, the Official issued a Team Warning to the home side for several dangerous ‘no arms’ tackles, but decided against further sanctions when the infringements continued !
The powerful back line was full of running with O’Leary, Pearson & Tyers carrying well on the back of solid forward possession. The Stocksbridge defence was called into action & young flier Logan Hanna was on hand to usher his opposing winger into touch, when it seemed Aireborough were about to score. The home team increased their lead with a well worked score to the side of the posts, before Jonathon Gill, sponsored by R-Autos Salvage, finished off a fine Stocksbridge attack scoring out wide after further strong forward play. Aireborough responded with a couple of late tries despite some heroic last ditch defence by Tyers to make the final score : Aireborough 31pts – Stocksbridge Rugby 11pts.
The Man of the Match award sponsored by Goodlad Contracting went to veteran outside half Scotty Bowskill for a skill full all round performance, with Tyers, that man Frith & O’Leary all pushing their own cases with some fine individual displays. Stocksbridge Rugby maintain 8th place in the Yorkshire Counties 4 league ladder despite this setback, & will be looking to bounce back next week when York based, Nestle Rowntree are the next visitors to Coal Pit Lane, kick off on 22nd Oct is 3pm.
Club Captain Adam Frith praised the efforts of his team afterwards saying, ‘this is always a difficult place to come & win’, adding ‘we stuck together when it got tough & competed all the way throughout the game. On another day, we could easily have taken the pointe here. We will be ready, & go again next week’.
Match report by Andrew Tyers
