Bishop's Stortford High School

U16 A XV v Bishop's Stortford High School (H)
Result: Won 26-19

Still smarting from the drubbing at Haileybury, the boys knew this year's fixture against BSHS would be close. Fittingly for a team with a point to prove, we started extremely well. The scrum was dominant with Brown & Crafford proving their worth in the tight exchanges, both creating turnovers to keep the early pressure on the opposition. One scrum against the head gave Holland and Gilham time and space to put Potter under the posts. This was quickly followed by some good line out work from Rogers and Willis finished the move extremely well from 35 metres out to take Felsted into a 14-0 lead. However, just as we threatened to take complete control, we missed a coke of tackles to gift BSHS a try and a foothold in the game. The next 10 minutes were characterised by some exciting, inventive rugby from Felsted without being able to finish moves off until Holland spotted the BSHS full back out of position and put in a chip kick which he chased down himself before being tackled without the ball. From the resultant penalty Barton powered his way over to give us a 19-6 half time lead.

When BSHS scored a try 10 minutes into the second half, the game teetered on a knife edge, with both teams proving for weaknesses. BSHS looked particularly dangerous in broken play, with some very strong runners able to make a lot of ground. Potter's second try of the game stretched our lead back out to 14 points and we seemed to be in control until King's yellow card for an extremely late tackle shifted the momentum back towards BSHS. A long range solo effort from their no.8 could have signalled a decisive shift in the game, but with Willis looking superb in defence and under the high ball alongside Barton, Lowe, Austin and Stoner's defence around the fringes the boys weathered the storm, finally sealing the game with another turnover which allowed Gilham to clear to touch and the final whistle.

Man of the Match: Ronan Willis