Stamford Rugby Club beat Old Laurentians

Stamford produced a dominant display to secure a 31-17 home win over Old Laurentians in Saturday's Counties 1 Midlands East (South) clash.

They banked a full five-point haul which moved them level with Biggleswade and Vipers at the top of the league table.

The purple, black and whites had gone into the match looking to carry on their good recent form against a Warwickshire side that hasn't had the best start to the season.

Stamford started well by applying good early pressure but it was the visitors that opened the scoring when they broke clear and were allowed to run in a try.

Town now got their game heads on and responded with a good handling move that was finished off by Gus Davies . Frazer Hutton added the conversion for a 7-5 advantage.

Stamford's forwards were now controlling the game and, when Laurentians were penalised for not retreating, they engaged the scrum and drove on for 20 metres before picking up and setting a maul that was driven over with James Wilson claiming the try to make it 12-5.

Stamford were now using their forwards and backs combined to make good ground.

Ed Cox made a break and from the scrum when he was stopped it was the home pack that were driving forward which gave Cox the space he needed to score.

Whatever tactic the visitors side tried was met by a huge Stamford defensive plan, Hurrell and Morley combining well at centre with classic tackles which were resulting in more scrums.

It has been quite a while since Stamford have seen a scrum so dominant and the front row of Callum Robertson, Harley Riches and Joe Ireland had the grins that only players in that position can relate to.

The second half saw Stamford with a lot of possession but they were unable to finish moves off.

When they saw a knock-on at a maul, they all stopped but the referee hadn't spotted it so a Laurentians forward picked the ball up and ran in unopposed. This was converted to make the score 17-12.

Stamford went straight back on the attack from the kick-off and yet another scrum drive which developed into a maul was finished off by Riches with a try which sealed the bonus point. Hutton converted to move the score to 24-12.

Despite the pounding they were receiving in the scrums, Laurentians upped their effort and from a line out they got together to push over for their third try, bringing the score back to 24-17.

It was Town who saw the game out with a series of handling moves which, much to the visitors' dismay, ended with another scrum that was driven forward at a rate of knots and resulted in Davies scoring a try which Hutton converted to make the final score 31-17

Stamford will hope to continue this performance on Saturday when they make the short trip to Bretton to face Peterborough Lions.