Starting in heavy rain, both sides nevertheless, were determined to play running rugby. A number of handling errors by both sides were inevitable, but this was not true of Stortford's defensive misalignment after 5 minutes, that produced a gaping hole, through which Rams' winger, Alex Kalling-Smith glided with barely a hand laid on him for a try out wide. A soft try to concede to the unbeaten opposition, but the home side tightened things up considerably and were more than competitive for the rest of the half. This included turning over a Rams' 5m attacking lineout after 10 minutes. when they had spurned the opportunity to add three points from a penalty under Stortford's posts. The home side had not made the same mistake shortly before, with Mike Cooke stepping up to take the score to 3-5. The ball remained very greasy, even after the rain abated after 20 minutes and both sides continued to spill the ball under pressure from aggressive defences. Both sides had chances, but were unable to finish them off, until Cooke stepped up again after 33 minutes to nail an excellent long penalty goal to take his side into a 0ne point lead. Rams finished the half on the attack, but, once again knocked on under pressure.

Stortford missed a golden opportunity from the restart, when Rams knocked on the opening kick and compounded that error by playing the ball from an offside position. The penalty went to touch, but the resultant 5 metre lineout was lost. The home side stayed on the front foot and
a snipe from the base of a ruck and kick ahead from Chris Bolton almost brought a try, when a teammate regathered the ball, but the visitors were able to bundle the player into touch. Rams bounced back, exerting considerable pressure on Stortford's line and it took a tremendous tackle from Tom Mills to drive an opponent some 5 metres back and force a knock-on to break the stranglehold. Things got considerably tougher after 48 minutes, though, when Toby Hill was yellow-carded for a high tackle. With Henry Peck already off the field from a first-half injury, scrums had to go uncontested and Stortford had to lose another player to the bin. There followed 10 minutes of fantastic, aggressive defence from Stortford's remaining 13 players, managing to keep a rampant Rams side at bay. Ironically, within 2 minutes of having their full complement of players restored, the lead was lost to a second try to the visitors. Slick handling out wide on the left put their winger away and, although a tremendous last-ditch tackle from David Hayes stopped an immediate score, two more quick phases tied in the remaining defence
and a quick pass from the base of the ruck saw the same winger, Tomasz Pozniak over in the corner. Stortford bounced straight back and a 50-22 kick from Austin Pope created a great attacking opportunity, but Rams defended well and, eventually won a turnover penalty, as a Stortford player got isolated. The home side ended on the front foot, but were unable to drive home the advantage. The relief with which Rams ended the game with a kick to touch clearly demonstrate how close Stortford had pushed them.

Sincere thanks today go to Matchday Sponsors and long-term Club supporters, Mantle Space and to Man of the Match sponsor, Menor Services, yet another of our great and highly-committed sponsors. Their award today went to Ollie Jones for another non-stop performance in a strong backrow.