Frustration for Under 15s after sharing the spoils with near neighbours
Stamford Under 14s triumphed in the NLD Plate final on Sunday after a 10-7 victory against a strong Melbourn side.
Having only met Melbourne once before - at the NLD Under 13s festival where Stamford narrowly won - the boys knew this was going to be a tough game.
Storm Freya was doing her best to make the day a miserable wet and windy one and, if things weren't interesting enough, this final was being played on Derby's 4G pitch - a new experience for Stamford but not Melbourne who train on it every week.
Stamford started well and slowly made their way up the pitch, pilling the pressure on Melbourne's backs.
A knock-on by Melbourne resulted in a Stamford scrum on the five metre line and, with quick hands, the ball was fed out toTheo Briston who dived into the corner to score the first try.
Unfortunately, due to the wind and rain, Harry Anderson wasn't able to make the conversion.
Melbourne responded accordingly and pushed Stamford back deep into their own half where they successfully managed to get their opponents very narrow and with a big overlap were set to secure their first try.
However, a high tackle on one of their players left the referee with no choice but to award a penalty try and Stamford trailed 5-7 at the break.
The second half started much as the first had finished - Melbourne continued to apply pressure and forced Stamford deep into their own 22.
Stamford dug deep and managed to clear their lines only to be pushed back again. A couple of silly penalties, plus loss of yards for talking back to the referee, and once again they were back against it.
However, as the second half progressed, Stamford's forwards started to break through and with only a few minutes to go they were knocking on Melbourne's try line.
George Janaway made a spirited break only to be tackled a few feet from the line and in the process spraining his knee ligaments.
With Janaway replaced, the game restarted with a Melbourne line-out on their five metre line where they gathered the ball, passed it to their number nine and as, he went to feed the ball to the fly-half, Matt Linsell crashed through, intercepted the pass and dived over the line to score the winning try.
As Anderson went to take the conversion the wind and rain got worse and unfortunately his usually reliable boot wasn't able to pick up the additional two points as the referee brought the game to an end with Stamford victorious.
Stamford: Will King, Harry Nicholls, George Janaway, Jack Griffin, Harry Whitmore, Oakley Lazenby, Clayton Volker, Matt Linsell, Ed Cameron, Harry Anderson, Seth Cardew, Sam Bird, Elliot Heatley, Theo Briston, Sam Barwise, Harry Rawcliffe, Charlie Perring, Tomas Asher. Coaches: Gareth Heatley, Danny Cardew, Jim Anderson.
Stamford Under 15s failed to continue with their recent impressive winning form when they shared the spoils in a 5-5 draw after travelling up the A1 to play local rivals Kesteven.
The weather didn't contribute to the below par performance with it constantly raining for the entire duration of the match.
Inevitably Stamford conceded an early try when the home team capitalised on poor defending and scored the opening try in the visitors' corner.
The try went unconverted and Stamford found themselves in a real battle against both their opponents and the rain that was seemingly blowing in their direction.
A game of attrition then took place between the two evenly-matched teams with both sides pushing forward and then defending in turn.
Stamford eventually broke free from the clutches of the Kesteven pack and were rewarded with a try, also in the corner, from the ball juggler supremo George Johnstone who eventually touched the ball over the line to even up the match.
The first half continued to be an evenly matched contest with neither team looking likely to trouble the scoreline.
In the second half Stamford, with the breeze and driving rain behind them, found a second wind and kept up constant pressure in the Kesteven half looking for the break that would give them a well deserved lead.
However, Kesteven's forwards had not been read in to Stamford's plan and their strong pack constantly held the visiting surge back with a display of resolute defensive work.
With five minutes to go Stamford thought they had found the breakthrough when winger Angus Bowling pounced on the ball which was loose behind the home team's post to seemingly score a well deserved try.
However, it was not to be as the referee adjudged Bowling to have been in an offside position.
With Kesteven only breaking in to the Stamford half once in the second period it ended up be a very frustrated visiting team who rued their missed chances and high penalty count to end the game with honours even.
Stamford: Rambaldi, Tank, Stokes, Johnson, Shaw, Birbeck, Misimisi, Wells, McManus, Chesworth (captain), Ramsey, Atkin, Criddle, Johnstone, Dugasse, Boorman, Chambers, Needham, Bowling, Wilson, Packer.