Shipston Progress In RFU Senior Vase

Shipston began their campaign in the RFU Senior Vase with an away trip to Stockwood Park RFC, based in Luton, but the cup run got off to the worst kind of start following a comedy of errors before the game had already begun! Half an hour into a long journey, Shipston realised that they had come away without their match shirts and so, after a quick reshuffling of cars in the convey, the players all carried onto their destination while the coaches returned to collect the shirts!

Having arrived late and without any kit, the Rams stumbled their way through a quick warm up and they were out on to the field. Luckily the shirts had arrived just on time!

The poor start to the day continued for Shipston as they found themselves 7-0 down with barely 2 minutes of the game gone. Stockwood Park made the most of their visitors lacklustre start and scored under the posts before most of the support had ventured out of the bar! The Rams then lost captain, Matt Corby with less than 5 minutes gone to an ankle injury, so it was looking like being an uphill task playing into a strong wind.

It was a task that Shipston began to settle into comfortably though and they started to play some very good rugby, using the width of the field to drag the Park forwards across the pitch. The pace in the backline looked like it was going to cause their hosts problems all afternoon and so it fared. The Rams scored their first try of the afternoon following some excellent defensive pressure in the midfield. Harry Jackson was able to charge down an attempted clearance and gather the ball to score. The conversion was successful from Robbie Faulkner and Shipston were up and running in the game. A further penalty from Faulkner pushed the Rams into the lead for the first time and it was a lead they would never relinquish.

Eddie Cowper scored another try in an impressive performance from full back, intercepting a wide pass and racing 70 metres up the field to score. He was joined on the score sheet by William Gasson, who had another impressive game in the back row. He capped off a fine first half display from Shipston by bagging their third try of the game. With all kicks successful, the score at half time was 7-24 to Shipston.

The second half began as the first had finished, with Shipston in the ascendancy. The pace of their ball and the width of their attack was proving too much for Stockwood Park to deal with and they started to really put distance between themselves and their hosts on the scoreboard. Rob James scored and brilliant try, beating his man for pace on the outside and ghosting round under the posts following another slick attack. Robbie Faulkner scored a try of his own too, breaking through a couple of tackles and on the Park twenty-two and touching down.

It was all coming together for Shipston and they improved their lead to 32 points, moving the score along to 39-7. It came at a cost for the Rams however. As well as losing Corby, both Will Seys and Alex Hammond both left the field with serious looking injuries and all three look set for a reasonable stint on the sidelines! The reshuffled Shipston forwards continued to play with pace and vigour, showing the real strength in depth that they are beginning to build.

Stockwood Park managed to bag a late consolation try that will nag at the Shipston coaching team slightly, but overall they can be extremely pleased with how their side fared following a long journey and a disastrous start! The final score of 39-12 was a fair reflection of the game and it was no less than the Rams deserved.

There are a number of candidates for MOTM this week after a string of impressive performances. Rob James, Scott Brandreth, Isaac Clayton, Ed Cowper and George Wilcock all had excellent games for Shipston, but the standout performer was William 'Spider' Gasson. He was at the heartbeat of everything the Rams did well all afternoon, strong in defence and quick to support and link up in attack! He is a deserved winner this week.

Shipston return to league action next week when they travel to league newcomers Stoke Old Boys. They will be looking for victory to maintain their push towards the top end of the division.