Stoke Old Boys vs Tenbury RFC 83-7 (W)

Welcome back to match report Monday, it’s been a while! With Redditch unable to fulfil the scheduled fixture last weekend you have to go right back to the 17th February for Stoke’s last competitive match. With bottom of the league Tenbury the opponents this weekend and the slim possibility of the league title being wrapped up you could have understood if the Stoke side went into the game a little rusty and with a few jitters.

This however, was not the case. From the first whistle Stoke set about demolished their opponents, wrapping up the bonus point within 20 minutes and going onto score 13 tries.

Credit here, must go to Tenbury who represented their club proudly and never dropped their heads or, like some teams across the league, began to fight or argue amongst themselves. I genuinely do not have a bad word to say about them and their never say die attitude paid off as mid-way through the second half they capitalised on Stoke errors and scored just to the left of the posts.

From this point on, it’s incredibly difficult to remember the order of the game to the standard to which Match Report Monday has set through the course of this season. Therefore, today’s report will be more of a ‘key facts and summary’.

Name: Tries Scored:
Tom Elves 1
Michael Tyrrell 1
Adam Tyrrell 2
Marc Brittain 2
Ben Griffiths 1
Sam Watson 1
Ricky Birtley 1
Sam Cullinane 1
Kyle Timms 1
Danny Bates 2

Conversions Successful Attempts Percentage
David Pretty 9/13 70%

Key Highlights – In no particular order.
• Daniel Falcini, during the game, demanding that the forwards get a mention for their dominance at the set piece. Whilst I can only agree with him, the entire pack was completely dominant at the scrum and both won and competed at the lineout impressively all game, this type of behaviour cannot be tolerated. Daniel, this is your official warning.
• Ben Griffiths ended the career of a number of Tenbury defenders this weekend with the naughtiest of steps. Throughout the course of the game the Tenbury defenders found him impossible to handle and he created at least two tries and scored one himself. This should have been two however a diabolical drop over the line saw the attempt scrubbed off.
• Sam Cullinane demonstrated unexpected kicking skills to play the ball through for Sam Watson to nudge on and score his second of the season.
• Kyle Timms, spectacular as ever in the loose, finding himself all around the park as part of his link play philosophy created a beautiful try right from the kick off for Ricky Birtley to finish. Timmsy could also have added to his try tally on a number of occasions as the ball just evaded his grasp.
• Danny Bates, awarded man of the match post game, had a stellar display at the blindside, scoring two tries and hitting tackles from the first whistle to the last. If only he pulled his finger out and made it to training more often he may not find himself sitting anxiously waiting for the team announcement each week!
• Adam Tyrrell, a late addition to the squad after originally missing the cut, came off the bench at half time and answered his critics by scoring two spectacular tries, creating another and being a constant thorn in Tenbury’s side both in attack and defence.
• David Pretty, closing in on the 200 point mark with some quite astonishing conversions. If only he had been able to get onto the end of a number of chances, he may have dragged himself out of the naked mile danger zone. I’ve never known a whole team hope that one player scores more than we did this weekend.

This was a spectacular victory, with both the backs and the forwards combining to put on an attacking display not seen at Stoke for a number of years. There were however also a high number of scores that could have been, and in tougher, tighter games, Stoke need to ensure that these opportunities are taken.

Stoke now sit 15 points clear of Coventry Welsh, who are now the only team that could mathematically challenge them for top spot. The league title will be sealed with victory against rivals Bedworth on the 7th April at Albert Gale Field. VP’s day nonetheless. Make a note in your diaries, clear your schedule and get permission from the Mrs now!

It would be amazing if a huge crowd were there to cheer the boys on in what will be a tough contest and (hopefully) celebrate with us afterwards on a successful season and a league title!

In other news, The second XV lifted the Vase trophy with a 57-15 win over Coventry Welsh at Old Coventrians RFC. All reports say that the seconds thoroughly deserved their win and captain Shane Bliss paid tribute to Dave Henley, for working tirelessly to organise a side and fixtures.

A great weekend to be a Stokie!