CS and Bishop’s Stortford have had some exciting encounters over the last three seasons and this was no exception. A scintillating first half performance promised much but eventually a cruel accumulation of injuries meant that in the last quarter the Stags were running on empty and the gaps could no longer be plugged. However good your bench, when you have lost backs like James Houstoun and Brendan Ward, your talismanic second row Arno Van der Speck has left the field with as nasty a gash to the head as you are ever likely to see, prop Jamie Evans has bravely declined to go off, flanker Joe Clarke is on the wing and hooker Gino Corradi is now playing blindside, and the second half has barely started, you know that Lady Luck has given you a fairly cruel kicking.

An early exchange of penalties was the prelude to the Stags’ golden patch with some handsome back play rewarded with centre Richard McLaughlin going through virtually untouched under the posts after eleven minutes. Whilst CS continued to dominate possession and territory, actually turning this superiority into points was not so straight forward and it took a moment of virtuosity on the half hour to engineer the Stags' second try. Instead of going for goal from a very kickable penalty position, Scott Hadden freed up Brendan Ward for another seven pointer and with our visitors now temporarily reduced to fourteen men the omens were good and this was the moment surely to go for the jugular.

The loss of a man seemed to galvanise Bishop’s Stortford, however, and this was also when CS’s aforementioned calamitous injury sequence started. Just before halftime some good support play resulted in a touchline score for the visitors' hooker who crashed through the last tackle with their kicker, Coleman, then rubbing salt in by bisecting the posts. So with that – very much against the run of the play – oranges were sucked - and the coaches giving rather different talks to their charges no doubt – with the score 17-10. Meanwhile the Stags’ physio was very busy.

The next score was going to be an important one and it went our visitors’ way after fifty minutes courtesy of another piece of sublime skill and indeed “ even the ranks of Tuscany could scarce forebear to cheer“* as fly half Coleman put an inch perfect cross kick into his winger’s arms – not the first time that he has produced this very same arrow from out of his quivver against the Stags. He then struck another pefect touchline conversion to level the scores as the damage inflicted on the Stags' ranks was becoming ever more apparent.

They did come back pluckily to steal the lead one more time as Scott Hadden kicked a straight penalty at the end of his range ten minutes later but it was by now fairly apparent to all but the most optimistic that it was going to take a miracle for CS to hang on , such was the intense pressure they were now under and indeed, just minutes later, some quick recycling in contact was enough to stretch the defence for the Bishop's Stortford winger to score and Coleman then to step up and knock over his third touchline conversion. Then, five minutes from the end, turnover ball presented the visitors with the opportunity to deliver the coup de grace and in truth the home side were by now out on their feet and left with nothing at all to show for their efforts : but what a heroic performance it had been and what splendid entertainment.

* Horatius by Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay

CS Rugby 1863 scorers:

Tries:

McLaughlin
Ward

Conversions:

Hadden (2)

Penalties

Hadden (2)