Stanford 1st XV (43) – Kings Cross Steelers 1st XV (12) League win at home for Stanford
From the first line out of the game Stanford rose high and put pressure on the visitors defence which lead to a penalty to Stanford. Calum Reid stepped up and opened the scoring after just two minutes of play.
The next score came from a Steelers lineout, Stanford disrupted the line out and as Steelers attempted to control the ball under pressure, Matt Rumble stepped through and stole the ball. Rumble then stepped into space and ran towards the Steelers line followed by Sonny Smith who took Rumble’s well timed pass, who then passed on to Ryan Edgeway to run in under the posts. Reid made light work of the conversation.
Debut player Jordan Edwards was next to cross the line for Stanford after 12 minutes when he picked a perfect line through the Steelers centres, stepped and outpaced the remaining defenders.
Stanford didn’t take long to work their way back into the Steelers half but it was Steelers who scored next Steelers intercepted a pass and sprinted from their 22 metre line over the Stanford line. An easy conversion was added to the points.
Stanford’s scrum was having the better of the two packs and as Stanford turned over the ball inside centre Kye Holloway burst through the defence and powered his way up field. The forwards backed up their team mate and mauled the ball onwards. Steelers put in some big hits to stop the pressure and just as it seemed that Stanford might not end up with anything from their pressure Captain Matt Rumble steeped around from the back of the ruck and touched down over the line 27 minutes into the first half, Reid had no trouble with the conversion.
Half time had Stanford leading 22 – 7.
From the restart Sonny Smith caught the ball and then smashed his way through the chasing Steelers pack putting Stanford on the front foot. Jacob Cushing hit a text book line to side step two players and set up the ball for the pack to ruck over. Reece Anderson collected the ball and powered his way over the line to open the scoring of the 2nd half after 6 minutes. Reid once again stroked the ball effortlessly through the posts.
Stanford added the next points to the score board when Edgeway crossed the line for his second try of the day. Stanford’s handling through the backs was clinical and the forwards support was well structured giving Edgeway the perfect base to be able to burst through and score, Reid again added the two points.
Steelers kept attacking and were finally rewarded when they put together several rolling mauls close to the Stanford line and their determination saw them cross the try line but couldn’t add the conversion.
Stanford had the last say in this enthralling game when Calum Reid finished off a good game by crossing the Steelers try line one last time for his sides 6th try of the game. Reid sealed the game when he kicked the hardest attempt at the posts of but made it with plenty to spare. Final score Stanford 43 – Kings Cross Steelers 12.
Man of the match was given to debutant Jordan Edwards.
Stanford 2’s (36) – Old Brentwood’s 3’s (10) Home league win
After two weeks of cry offs Stanford finally got their 2nd strings season underway. Their opponents were an experienced Old Brentwood’s team, Old B’s definitely had the size advantage in the pack but this was to no avail. Stanford was eager to get running at their opposition from the very first whistle and were playing some good running rugby backed up by a strong defence.
The red men dominated the first half, they more than held their own at the set piece giving the backs some decent ball to run off of. The second half was more of the same for 10 minutes or so until fitness began to tell especially against the bigger side who were trying to get through Stanford’s defence by using their big men to punch holes. The red men were superb on the day though and comfortably won the game. Scorers on the day were, Sean Cochrane, Ryan Nelson, Wayne Leech, Ash Downes and Mike Kite, Cochrane also kicked 4 conversions and a penalty.
Man of the match went to Tom Thurston, but a special Captain’s commendation also went to Kev Foley and Jack Enever who were both superb on the day.
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Stanford RFC u13’s (49) vs. Westcliff u13’s (10) Away Cup win
Preliminary Round U/13 Youth Cup.
Stanford’s opening game of the season was at home against Westcliff RFC in the preliminary round of the youth cup. The home side hit the ground running with some good possession and strong scrumming from the Red pack, it was from this early possession that fly-half Owen Riley used his long loping stride to run in a brace of tries.
There were strong attacks from the visitors but the defence was steady and controlled which prevented any opposition any score. Stanford then hit a purple patch and sustained a couple of injuries, one of which appeared particularly worrying to full back Reece Clark, who injured his hip after a trademark hard line attack and great tackle from Westcliff. The half time whistle blew with Stanford 10 nil up.
The strong breeze continued which suited the home side, with the wind at their backs, some intelligent kick & chase pinned back Westcliff and the pressure started to take its toll, 3 more tries from Riley and a hat trick from speedster  inside centre Joe Harding sealed the deal. It wasn’t a two man show, the whole side worked as a unit with some great tackling and turnover ball and confident inter-passing from the
Stanford backs which kept Westcliff guessing. It is a credit to the visitors who never gave up and they were quite rightly rewarded with two tries.
Stanfords forward of the match is Hooker Tom Stewart and Fly-Half Owen Riley, who increased his haul of points with 2 conversions and a penalty.
“Great day at the office “
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Stanford u12’s (30) vs. South Woodham Ferrers u12s (15)
A strong performance by Stanford u12s away at South Woodham Try scorers for Stanford were Josh Maskall, Izenosa Binitie (2), Owen Harris, TessWells and Jerome Sagomba. Man of the match James Derby.
