Both teams wasted no time getting off to an electric start, with strong running, driving, and tackling, which featured throughout the match. It was Wells who struck first after just three minutes, their number 8 driving over the line at the top left corner. Unconverted, it was 0-5 to the Wells. Stags struck back eventually on the seventeen minute mark, when after a series of breakdowns and strong drives on the Wells line, Pantelis Stylianou virtually burrowed underground to reach the try line. David Wilkinson converted, to make it 7-5 to the home team. On twenty minutes, Wells got a penalty in front of the posts, and opted for the points to go up 7-8. Stags fought back and continued the pressure, and camped in opposition half for quite a period, but it was obvious the away side had upped their defensive game considerably and they held out. However, finally on the half hour mark after more close quarter pressure on the Wells line, the ball was passed out right to Luke Risman, placing himself in a gap on the wing to touch down on the right corner. David Wilkinson took an excellent flighted touchline conversion to put Stags into a 14-8 lead, and that’s how it stayed until half time.

The second half saw more of the same strong running and brutal defence from both teams. On 45 minutes, Wells broke through to score a try, and converted, took a 14-15 lead. Stags did their utmost to hit back, but just couldn’t get through. Unfortunately, mid second half, the intensity of the game showed through with two severe injuries for the Stags within five minutes – Ikenna Obonna (ankle), and Alex jones (knee) – both stretchered off to hospital after an obvious significant hold up in play. When play resumed, the Stags did their best to add to the scoreboard, but were held up by a resolute Wells defence. Then it was Wells who scored again on the seventy minute mark, and unconverted, now lead 14-20. Wells held on to that lead, despite more Stags pressure on their line in the closing minutes of the match, and that’s how the game ended.

A tough day at the office for the CS Stags, but I’m going to quote assistant coach Franc Marais who summed up - “It wasn’t that the Stags did anything wrong, but Tunbridge Wells earnt and deserved their victory with a good performance.” So well done boys – onwards and upwards - with the losing bonus point from this game, they stay in contention at the top end of the table in second place behind Jersey, after three matches. In closing, our thoughts and best wishes go out wholeheartedly to Ikenna and Alex – may they get the best of medical treatment for their nasty injuries, and recover strongly as ever. All the Stags are behind you boys.

Tries: 10 points (x2) – Pantelis Stylianou, Luke Risman
Conversions: 4 points (x2) – David Wilkinson

CS Staghounds (II’s) 33 – Richmond Saxons (III’s) 12
Playing only their second game of the season, the CS Staghounds 2nd XV came out strong winners at home to Richmond Saxons (III’s) in the GAUCHOS ROC London Shield league.

All credit to the Staghounds, who with a mixture of both old and new faces, and some having not played together as a team, ran in five tries on the day, conceding two. The half time score was 19-12 to Staghounds. Well done to the team, and bonus points have been added to their league table status.

** Next week is spare league weekend for both teams. League games resume Saturday 4th October 2025, with CS Stags 1863 1st XV at home to Hammersmith & Fulham RFC, and CS Staghounds 2nd XV away to Esher Cardinals (2nd XV). **
For information, we are adding try and point scorers to the GMS Match Card this season, and this gets picked up and fed through to the Fixtures & Results page on England Rugby. On the same page is the “Stats” tab, and you can now see added to the other team stats such as biggest home and away wins, biggest home fortress, and best traveller rankings etc., the actual league individual player stats for highest try scorers and points scorers. Click on their names to reveal player profiles, points scored, appearance figures etc. and filter for either all time data, or season specific data! Here’s the link:
https://www.englandrugby.com/fixtures-and-results/search-results?competition=261&division=66524&season=2025-2026#stats

Don’t forget – CS Stags 1863 postings are available on all three of the sites below: Pitchero club website, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/civilservicefootballclubru/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/civilstags
https://www.linkedin.com/company/66883452/admin/page-posts/published/

pdf

CS Stags 1863 14 - Tunbridge Wells RC 20 20th Sept 2025 PD

173.2KB

Download