Shorn of their captain and vice captain at 8 and 9, Stortford appeared pretty much rudderless during the first half and, shipping 42 points before the break, were humbled by a strong Rosslyn Park side, with only 2 Dan Cole Penalties to show in return. The scoring deluge was worse even than that, because, with some early pressure, the penalties came early on, sandwiching a converted try to the ever-threatening Luke Mehson, from a good tactical kick to the wing. After the first 15 minutes, the home side made life easy for the aggressive visitors, with a disappointingly loose defence and a number of crucial errors in possession – not all of them excused by the pressure exerted by the visitors’ fast line speed and strong tackling. Mehson’s elusive running was a constant threat, properly rewarded with a first half try double and a hat trick completed in the second half, but he was part of a strong, well-organised team that, on the day, were just too much for an off-key Stortford to cope with. Home errors led directly to 3 of the six tries scored by Park and defensive passivity contributed to others, but credit needs to be given to a slick Rosslyn Park side, that seized every opportunity with both hands. Tries were scored by Ewan Fenley, Andrew Davies, Luc Smith and James Cordy-Redden on top of Mehson’s double, as the visitors cut loose and all were clinically converted by Smith to take the sides into the break with a 6-42 scoreline.
Stortford had looked down for the count before the break, but deserve great credit for coming out for the second half, determined to put up a fight. A previously apparently impregnable Park defence was breached after 48 minutes, when Tom Hitchcock stepped in to intercept a pass from an intricate opposition move in midfield and run in under the posts, giving Cole an easy conversion. This naturally lifted the home side and further momentum was gained when, only 4 minutes later, Tom Mills came across from the opposite flank to step smartly in off the left wing to beat 3 defenders and add a second try. Mills touched down again 8 minutes later, rounding off several phases of quicker ball from his team, that stretched the visitors’ defence to breaking point. Within 5 minutes, Stortford had, almost unbelievably, clocked up their bonus point fourth try, when Park failed to deal with a testing box kick and were penalised for offside from a knock-on. David Hayes put in a tremendous kick for a 5m lineout and Alex Osborn went over for a try from the resultant lineout. A good conversion by Cole kept the pressure on, narrowing his side’s deficit to only 12 points. Unfortunately for home supporters, though, instead of keeping their foot on the neck of a seemingly tiring opposition, Stortford proceeded to give up two soft penalties under no pressure and, within 2 minutes, Mehson had scored his hat trick try. That was effectively game over, as Park’s forwards then took control, producing further tries for openside, Archy Hosking from close range, with Smith converting both to take the final score to 30-61.
Sincere thanks are due to today’s Matchday Sponsors, long-time Club supporters, Russell Properties and to Man of the Match Sponsors, BIT Solutions, who are also massive backers of the Club.
