Rugby round-up: Stour suffer first defeat in hard-fought clash
Stourbridge suffered their first defeat of the season as they went down 20-13 at Bournville.
The visitors, aiming to make it three wins from three in Regional One Midlands, made the perfect start when Mark Harrison went over in the corner inside four minutes, with home player Cam Smith suffering a broken arm trying to make the tackle.
Ricky Aley eventually converted the score after a delay of more than 20 minutes but Stour were unable to build on the early advantage, going in level 13-13 at the break when Jonjo Fanning went over for the hosts.
Chris Idehen then scored early in the second half for Bournville and Stour could find no way back, despite plenty of pressure.
Rory Davis scored Lichfield’s only try as they were beaten 15-10 at home by Lutterworth, while Dudley Kingswinford are still searching for their first points of the season after losing 27-14 at home to Banbury.
James Ryan scored in the 25th minute to put DK ahead but the visitors hit back to level through Max Benson before the break and then took control in the second half with three further scores.
Joseph Tighe went over late on to give the home side a sniff at a losing bonus point but they ended up empty-handed for a third straight weekend.
Walsall suffered a disappointing afternoon as they were beaten 27-22 at Old Saltleians in Regional Two Midlands (North).
Callum Hoy went over in the first half for the visitors, who then edged ahead early in the second half thanks to two penalties from Adam Nunney.
But poor handling saw them squander chances to increase the lead and instead it was the hosts who took victory thanks to two late tries.
Old Halesonians claimed their first point of the season in Regional Two Midlands (West) but were disappointed it wasn’t more, after going down to a narrow 22-20 defeat at home to Stow-on-the-Wold.
Stafford battled swirling wind and driving rain before eventually losing 18-10 in a Counties Two Cup tie at Heaton Moor.
Heavy traffic delayed the team on the drive up to near Manchester and they began slowly, Jake Atherton converting two penalties for the home side.
An Alex Rock penalty eventually got Stafford on the board and they finally began to find some momentum late in the half, Liam Ashworth crashing through the lines to score the game’s first try and put his team 10-6 up at the break.
Yet it was the home side who would have the benefit of the conditions in the second half and they exploited them to full advantage.
A spell of sustained pressure ended with Tom Yeomans going over from a five-metre scrum which left Stafford trailing by a point.
The deficit would have been greater had the home side, with the wind playing a major factor, not missed a penalty from just five metres out.
Stafford kept pushing and looked in position to retake the lead late on when they had a line-out deep in opponent territory.
But a loose pass was pounced on by Sam Firth, who sprinted more than 70 metres to score, with Atherton adding the conversion to put the game beyond the visiting side’s reach.
