Stratford 20 vs Whitchurch 10

This was a case of Whitchurch losing the match rather than Stratford winning it. The home side were responsible for their own demise by poor decisions and poor discipline. Despite controlling eighty per cent of the game, they continually gave away penalties and made errors in handling and judgement. They were ahead in the third minute after an explosive start. A catch and drive was followed by a pick and go and Jake Rees crossed for a try in the corner. Less than five minutes later, overconfidence led them to try to run the ball out from their own 22 metres and ended up giving away a penalty. The resultant line out gave the visitors a chance to emulate their hosts and scored from a catch and drive. The try was converted and Whitchurch were behind against the run of play. The remainder of the first half saw the game played almost entirely in the visitors half but only a single try by Tom Hales resulted in the score of 10 – 7 at the break. 

Stratford began to show more in attack and some awful handling by the reds enabled them to score a scrappy try to pull ahead. The Shropshire men continued to dominate but to no avail as their killer touch disappeared. This allowed Stratford to come back with a penalty to move further ahead. As the game draw to a close, the home defence went to sleep and allowed the smooth running visiting centre to cut through and score. The kick was missed in the changing wind but then men from the Avon held on to win.