Shrewsbury kicked off playing with the breeze down the slope and opened the scoring in the third minute with a penalty goal. Stoke soon responded with a try from Glen Joss on the right wing following a tap penalty from Chris Rowley. From the restart the home forwards took the ball up field to create several rucks close to the line before Tim Wood scored in the thirteenth minute. With the Stoke forwards producing a steady supply of ball for the backs to test the Shrewsbury defence the home side scored tries in the twentieth, twenty-seventh and thirtieth minutes from James Cordall, having his first outing of the season, Callum Robb who followed up on a kick through to touch down and Wayne Dicken, who had replaced the injured Sam Christmas. The last try was converted by Chris Rowley who had found his range following several misses. Robert Spruce sped over for a converted try in the thirty-third minute before the visitors retaliated with a try of their own a couple of minutes later. Just before half time Stoke again drove deep into the Shrewsbury half and from a five metre scrum Chris Rowley nipped through the defence for a try and conversion. In injury time Shrewsbury attacked and from a scrum they moved the ball left for a score which was converted.

Half time: STOKE 41 SHREWSBURY 15

The second half started with Stoke re-establishing their grip on the game and as the game progressed the Shrewsbury players began to tire from their efforts to stem the regular attacks from the home backs and forwards. As a result Stoke ran in a series of tries at regular intervals from Simon Price (two), Jamie Loska, a second for Wayne Dicken, Rich Meredith, a second for Robert Spruce, a second for Chris Rowley, Russell Birkett making his senior debut, and a second for Tim Wood with a spectacular collapse over the line. Chris Rowley added the conversion on eight occasions.

Full time: STOKE 102 SHREWSBURY 15

The match was a reflection on the merits of the teams at the top and the bottom of the league.

The Chris Rowley conversion of Robert Spruce's second try made it 1,000 league points for Stoke this season and Tim Wood's second try broke the 100 point barrier for the match.

Credit is due to Shrewsbury for the spirit they showed both on and off the field and we wish them a speedy return to this league at the end of next season.