Sat 8 Jan 2022
Stags win again to remain unbeaten at home
Stags 26 – 7 Spalding
Another solid defensive performance was the key as Stags 1st XV notched up their sixth home win of the season on Saturday, elevating them to 4th place in the Midlands 3 East (South) standings.
Head Coach Reggie Reid, keen to reverse the 22-5 loss suffered away at Spalding back in October, named a side featuring no less than five personnel changes and two further positional changes from the last game of 2021, a win at Bedford Queens. Tango Morgan and Ben Rowbottom, making his senior league debut, came into the wing berths, replacing Will Hirons and Barnie West, Sam Hirons returned at flyhalf following a bout of Covid with Joe Hicken (sponsored by Ceres Rural) moving back to Full Back, Luke Murphy (sponsored by NCK Motors Ltd) returned at Tighthead with Kris Jones (sponsored by Store It Quickly) moving across the scrum to his preferred Loosehead slot, and lastly skipper Wayne Bradley (sponsored by Cloves Dental Practice) came in to the second row for Thomas Davies-Parratt.
Although the rain had cleared up for kick off, the forecast for later in the game looked ominous, so starting well and getting a lead would be key. Playing into the breeze, and after weathering some early penalty trouble, this is exactly what Stags looked to do, gaining territory with some excellent ‘into the wind’ kicking from both Hirons and Hicken, before a lineout five metres out, again from a pinpoint Hirons kick, gave the home pack the opportunity to bring the driving maul to bear, resulting in a try for hooker Luca Proietti (sponsored by The Hare on the Green, Brampton), his second in as many games. Hicken duly added the extras, converting from 7 metres in from the touchline.
Following the opening score, Stags once again found themselves in penalty trouble, making a number of needless indiscretions which threatened to allow the visitors back in the game as they applied a spell of pressure of their own. Huntingdon’s ever-improving defence kept the visitors at bay though, before a dominant scrum in the middle of the field earned a penalty and an opportunity to gain some territory in the attacking half, with Proietti going close to adding a second before being hauled down metres from the line.
As the predicted rain came and the breeze strengthened, Stags went down to 14 with the referee running out of patience with the penalty count and skipper Bradley yellow carded for a technical infringement, and found their defence being tested again, but organised resolute defending and counter-rucking in midfield, led by the centre pairing of North and Gunn (sponsored by Oakbank Game & Conservation) and openside Roger Shakespeare (sponsored by Gunfire), resulted in a turnover, giving the returning Morgan the opportunity to evade a couple of would-be tacklers at close quarters before scampering in untouched from the halfway line for the second try of the game, converted by Hicken.
The final try of the half came on the stroke of halftime, when the visitors successfully repelled the Stags catch and drive, but flyhalf Hirons was on hand to nip up the blind side and crash over. With the conversion missed, oranges were taken with Stags leading 19-0.
The second half proved a more even affair, with the bonus point try coming midway through the half, a second of the day from Hirons as he broke the line on the visitors 22 and evaded the cover to score.
An otherwise pleasing start to 2022 for Stags was sullied slightly when their defensive wall was finally breached in the final act of the game, allowing Spalding to score a consolation for a 26-7 final score.
Although all three front row were part of a improving set-piece, and Hirons and Hicken both masterful with the boot, Man of the Match was unanimous amongst the coaching team and spectators alike, with Luca Proietti producing his best display of the season so far, catching the eye both at the setpiece and in the loose.
Coach Reggie Reid was in typically buoyant mood after the game, commenting "As close as we have come to a complete performance, with our sour note being the try we conceded at the death. The lads have returned from Christmas with a great attitude, and the way we handled the weather and the 'spikey' nature of some of Spalding's close-quarter work, was great.
Our backs looked dangerous, even on the tricky surface, and our forwards put in the performance of the season. Its a great bar to set themselves as we push on into 2022 looking to avenge a few more defeats that we suffered on the road."
- Kris Jones (sponsored by Store It Quickly)
- Luca Proietti (sponsored by The Hare on the Green, Brampton
- Luke Murphy (sponsored by NCK Motors Ltd)
- Bodge Saunders (sponsored by Griggs Project Services Ltd)
- Wayne Bradley (c) (sponsored by Cloves Dental Practice)
- Doug Clark - Available to sponsor. Your Company Name here, get in touch today!
- Roger Shakespeare (sponsored by Gunfire)
- Liam Findlay (sponsored by Nick Brown Racing)
- Jack Skidmore (sponsored by MAE Construction)
- Sam Hirons - Available to sponsor. Your Company Name here, get in touch today!
- Tango Morgan - Available to sponsor. Your Company Name here, get in touch today!
- Richard North - Available to sponsor. Your Company Name here, get in touch today!
- Jamie Gunn (sponsored by Oakbank Game & Conservation)
- Ben Rowbottom - Available to sponsor. Your Company Name here, get in touch today!
- Joe Hicken (sponsored by Ceres Rural)
- Tyler Elstub - Available to sponsor. Your Company Name here, get in touch today!
- Harvey Pinkney - Available to sponsor. Your Company Name here, get in touch today!
- Oscar Proietti - Available to sponsor. Your Company Name here, get in touch today!
