Stamford Rugby Club beat Peterborough Lions

Stamford won their first-ever meeting with Peterborough Lions after a 38-20 victory in Saturday's Counties 1 Midlands East (South) clash.

The win moved the purple, black and whites up into second spot in the table ahead of Saturday's derby duel with Oakham who lost at Spalding at the weekend.

Stamford went into Saturday's clash with Lions on the back of a 26-10 away defeat at Old Laurentians the previous weekend.

Good weather conditions created the opportunity for an open running game and it was the home side that made the early running.

However, it was Lions who opened the scoring when they kicked and chased downfield to score in the corner.

A much-changed Stamford team, with quite a few playing out of position, got themselves back into the game and created an opening for Mike Kendall to break free but he was stopped short and received a head injury which meant he took no further part in the game.

The Lions attacked and kicked long and Town had to scramble the ball clear which led to a passage of play that neither side had control of.

Peterborough then had a player shown a yellow card for head contact and, when Stamford went on the attack, another player followed him off for collapsing a maul.

This opened up space which Town used well and they put Ollie Winspear in at the corner for their first try.

From the restart Stamford went straight back on the attack, using Jones and Heard in midfield they recycled and put prop Mike Harris in for a try which Harry Bentley converted to make the score 12-5.

The game was competitive but Stamford seemed to be getting the upper hand until they strayed offside and Lions kicked the penalty to add three points to their score.

Town went on the attack and prop Callum Robertson saw the whole pitch part like the Red Sea for him to burst through and, when he was caught, he off-loaded perfectly to James Wilson in support to go in under the posts. Bentley again kicked the extra points to take it to 19-8.

Again the game went into a highly-contested period and it was Lions who followed up a kick that wrong-footed the defence to score their second try to make the score 19-13 at the interval.

Stamford played with the slope advantage in the second half and used this to kick a penalty deep into the opposition 22. From the line-out, Ali Shaw was driven over for the fourth and bonus point try.

Stamford were now in control and, when Lions tried a passing move, Wilson intercepted and scored his second try with Bentley kicking the conversion to make it 31-13.

Peterborough changed their tactics and were using their forwards more but the Stamford defence was standing strong until finally Lions worked one of their forwards in at the corner for a converted try which made the score 31-20.

Stamford's response was to try and move the visitors around the pitch and this paid dividends when they broke blindside and released Wilson for another try. The ever-reliable Bentley kicked the conversion to make it 38-20.

Stamford's confidence was high and, when they stopped another Lions attack, Winspear kicked long to secure a 50/22 line-out.

Lions were desperate to break through but Stamford were now in control. The scrums held firm and Chisholm had another great game in the line-out.

The visitors conceded a late series of penalties which Town were able to clear to leave the final score at a bonus point win of 38-20

Credit must go to all the Stamford players who played out of position and they now look forward to the first A606 derby on Saturday at Oakham.