Pershore 22 - Stafford 24
Sep
Pershore completed their final warm up match, prior to the league season
starting on Sat 11, against a lively Stafford outfit. The visitors
arrived very early , and were well prepared for the game. However, it
was the hosts that started stronger. Pershore bossed the early
proceedings, using their bug ball carrying forwards, to put Stafford on
the back foot, and in the first twenty minutes, were camped in Staffords
22. Unfortunatly this forward domination was not converted into points,
with in particular a wrong decision, or a poor pass not executed at the
right time. But a strong scrummage, forced Stafford into an infringement
and Will Woodhouse converted the penalty. Back Stafford came, but a
resilient defence held out, and again with the forwards pressing
strongly Stafford conceded a five metre scrum. Pershores No 8 Martin
Hope, continued his scoring record, by picking up and crashing over. The
simple conversion was missed. With the half coming to a close, Staffords
first foray into Pershores 22 was rewarded when quick hands in the backs
allowed their winger Glassman to cross the line in the corner, and
successfully kick the conversion. 8 -7 at half time. Stafford galvanised
themselves at half time, and they began to dominate proceedings up
front. With a glut of ball for their dangerous backs, Stafford began to
carve holes in the Pershore defence. Fortunatly , through a combination
of last gasp tackles, and poor execution, Stafford could have scored a
few tries over a fifteen minute patch. Eventually Pershores defence, and
structure, began to fall apart. Poor kicking from hand was readily
accepted by Staffords back three, and soon they were rewarded with two
quick tries, from Bates and Vickers, one converted by Glassman. Stafford
were now playing with confidence, and when a speculative kick into
Pershores 22 was chased hard, and the ball was not cleared into touch
quickly enough, they won turn over ball in the dead ball area, and
touched down. The conversion missed. For the last quarter, Pershore
played some quality rugby. They reverted to their strengths, with Whyte,
Hope and Peel, making the hard yards, and when winger Steph Ellis,
entered the line on the opposite wing, his deadly pace outstripped the
Stafford defence to cross the whitewash. Dolphin kicked the difficult
conversion. Almost from the kick off, Pershore again attacked with
vigour, offloading well in the tackle, and making ground. From a quick
ruck, the ball was spread from left to right, and Marcus Whyte hit the
ball at pace to crash over in the corner. Again the difficult conversion
was kicked by Lewis Dolphin. The last two minutes saw Pershore press
hard for the win, but on this occasion, they ran out of time. Pershore
begin their league campaign against Barker Butts at home at Piddle Park,
on Sat 11 Sept Ko 3-00 PM.
