Stafford Colts were asked to play into the breeze in the first half after loosing the coin toss and Worcester used it to keep Stafford on the back foot. Having lost regular starting centres Finn Osmant earlier on in the week and Dan Poultney in the warm up to injuries the balance of the back line looked a little off. Stafford tried to put pressure on Worcester but every time they seemed to be getting on top the referee would penalise the forwards for holding on or going off their feet and the Worcester 10 would hoof the ball back into the Stafford 22. On a number of occasions full back Aiden Barker ran the ball back when it failed to find touch but the Stafford forwards seemed to lack energy in support of the ball carrier. With time nearly up in the half and Stafford having spurned a number of chances to open the scoring the Worcester center broke through midfield on half way with only full back Aiden to beat, but he made an excellent tackle and the opportunity to score was lost. A very frustrating half finished with neither side being able to score.

With coach Dean Rodwell’s half time words ringing in their ears and with the breeze now at their backs Stafford started the second half on the front foot. They got some territory in the Worcester 22 and after a few rucks on the oppositions 5m line Charlie Kirby found a gap and dived through it for the opening score, Seb Conaghan added the conversion. However, Stafford were not able to put Worcester away and the number of penalties conceded at the breakdown started to frustrate the Stafford forwards and snuff out good scoring opportunities. Then after 21 minutes Worcester scored a try of their own when Stafford failed to see the overlap on the blind side of a ruck and the winger scored in the left hand corner, Worcester added the difficult conversion from out wide. Stafford now sensing that they could loose this home fixture pushed Worcester back. A grubber kick through was touched down behind the Worcester goal line. From the subsequent dropout Stafford gathered the ball in midfield and passed the ball out wide to the left and found a determined Colton McLaughlin 10m out who smashed his way over for the score, conversion was missed. With time running out Stafford then had a scum on the Worcester 5m line but rather than adding the winning score they failed to convert the opportunity and were penalised. A determined Worcester pilled the pressure on Stafford who conceded penalty after penalty. Now defending on their own line Stafford struggled to hold the big Worcester forwards back and they forced their way over the try line, conversion was missed.

With 1 minute to go Stafford were awarded a penalty in midfield and elected to kick for the lineout but they failed to find touch and the referee blew for full time. Final score was a frustrating 12 – 12 draw. For the first time in a number of matches Stafford Colts failed to fire. The forwards were quite lethargic and not cohesive as an attacking of defensive unit. The backs defended well but did not carry much attacking threat or go forward and when they did get behind the Worcester defence they got isolated and were penalised. It was a draw which felt like a loss and with the difficult away league and cup games coming up in the next two weeks the Colts will have to get this game out of their heads and get back to they way the played last week against Evesham.

Let work hard in training this week and get back to wining way against Birmingham Mosley next Sunday.
Mark