Stamford Rugby Club beat Stockwood Park

Stamford celebrated their title success with a 50-point haul in front of a large crowd at Hambleton Road on Saturday.

The newly-crowned Counties 1 Midlands East (South) champions were convincing 50-14 winners over visiting Stockwood Park.

The visitors from Luton were prepared for a tough encounter and this was quickly demonstrated when, with only seconds into the game, Ed Cox collected the kick-off, burst through some would-be tacklers before off-loading to Jack Jones at pace to sprint over for the opening try.

Frazer Hutton converted for a 7-0 lead with just one minute on the clock.

Stamford kept up the momentum with a series of moves that kept the visitors pinned back.

A fast break out by Freddie Chapman was stopped but the ball was recycled to Cox in midfield who, with an outrageous dummy pass, went through the middle to score a solo try with Hutton adding the extra two points.

Town kept the pressure on but not with their usual accuracy at times.

Good territory was made by fly half Will Andrews and a storming run by Austin Baker was stopped by some good Stockwood defence but, despite creating chances, they were not finishing them off until a well rehearsed line out drive saw Jones crash over for his second try.

Hutton stepped up with the conversion to take the score on to 21-0.

Stamford were running the game now and the half closed with a repeat of the previous try from a line out with Cox getting his second and Hutton landing his fourth conversion to give a score of 28-0 at the interval.

This also was the bonus point try for the match and was roundly celebrated by the supporting crowd.

The second half started with an early Stamford break out that was finished by James Wilson in the corner to increase the lead to 33-0.

Town then decided to take a 15 minute holiday and a multiphase move by Stockwood Park was finished off under the posts for a converted try.

From the restart, Park again rallied strongly and a slick handling move was finished under the posts for another converted try to move the score to 33-14.

Stamford got their game heads back on and kept possession before opening a gap for Gus Davies to run into and the ever present Cox was on hand to carry the move on before passing on to Jones who finished it off with his third try.

Hutton was on hand to add the conversion for a 40-14 advantage.

The purple, black and white forwards now took control and produced a series of drives before letting the backs have the ball where Zach Morley was grateful and scored the try.

As the game went into its closing stages and the visitors began to tire, Town opened up their defence and the speedy Dave Martin crossed for the final try which gave a final score of 50-14.