Templars wall crumbles in final minute

The hosts started in the usual fashion of letting the visitors dictate the early stages of the game with the Templars seeming to be happy to stand off their opponents and Stowmarket took advantage of this by putting the Templars under pressure by winning any breakdowns and releasing their centres who were making inroads into Templars territory with their powerful running and this was the source of the first try for Stowmarket as fullback Ed Merry cleared his lines with a kick deep into the Stowmarket half and with no Templars players chasing the kick the bounce fell kindly to their inside centre who ran through the non existent Templars defence to finish a great solo effort. The Stowmarket fullback adding the conversion to give the visitors a seven points to nil lead.

The one strength from this point on was the Templars pack who were starting to overpower the Stowmarket eight and this was giving Templars a foothold in the game. Templars first points came from this very source with a scrum ten metres out the Templars pack put the power on allowing man of the match Jack Beckinsale from his position at the back of the pack to break quickly and snipe his way through the Stowmarket defence to drive over.
Merry was unable to add the extras.

The game was starting to become very even with the Templars dominating the scrum with the front row of Illingworth, Cooper and Trevain dominating their opposition and the lineout was starting to edge in favour of the Templars and with a more even contest at the breakdown rather than the early dominance from Stowmarket the Templars were starting to play some good rugby.

Sadly at this point Templars lost second row Chris Perkins to what looked like a serious neck injury after a collapsed scrum and this led to the Templars man being taken to hospital in ambulance,and with young Jack Beckinsale needing constant running repairs to a busted lip this seemed to unsettle the Templars and Stowmarket took advantage after a spell of pressure deep in the Templars 22 their hooker drove over the line to extend the visitors lead to twelve points to five at half-time.

Once the second half began the Templars seemed galvanized and looked stronger than Stowmarket at this point. With the dominant scrum leading to good possession for the Templars backline with centres Brett Ballard and Matt Beckinsale regularly combining to good effect and the mercurial Ed Merry baffling the Stowmarket defence with his line breaks and quick hands and feet.

And it was the centre combination that provided Templars with their next points with Beckinsale finding Ballard who had run a fantastic line to find the gap in the Stowmarket defence and finish a great move to bring the Templars within two points.

And the next points on the board were for the hosts as the scrum once again provided good ball for Jack Beckinsale to feed fly half Vinny Geaves who dived over the line for his first try for the club after returning from a broken rib.

The game ebbed and flowed from this point with the Templars unable to add to the points on the board despite the forwards domination and Stowmarket unable to break the Templars defensive line so with minutes to go it looked like the Templars might hold on for the win after several last ditch defence work on their own try line it looked like the visitors wouldn't find a way through sadly for the Templars Stowmarket found a way through the Templars backline to take the game at the death and snatch a 15-17 win.

Templars coach Barry Poulter after the defeat said.

The poor start didn't help us as we sat back and let the opposition play rather than pressure them and we made the mistake of waiting to see what the opposition were going to do rather than impose ourselves on the game.

We did come back into the game well with a dominant scrum and some excellent individual performances but we really need to start games on the front foot and not allow the opposition time and space as we are at our strongest when pressure the opposition and allow our backs the freedom to play.

Poulter added everyone at the club wishes Chris Perkins a speedy recovery.