Sat 29 Jan 2022
Stags 21 – 28 Bourne
Stags unbeaten run at home came to an end on Saturday, despite a second half revival. Once again, Stags fielded a much changed line-up, with no less than 8 personnel changes, and two more positional, from the loss at Stewarts & Lloyds a fortnight ago, as they hosted high-flying Bourne at the Racecourse.
Up front, Luke Murphy (sponsored by NCK Motors Ltd) and Luca Proietti (sponsored by The Hare on the Green) returned in the front row, with Kris Jones (sponsored by Move It Quickly) moving across to his preferred Loosehead berth, Nick Vallance came into the second row, replacing skipper Wayne Bradley, who sadly looks set for a prolonged spell on the sidelines after sustaining a torn hamstring last week, and Nick Saunders and Liam Findlay (sponsored by Nick Brown Racing) coming into the back row.
In the backs, Tango Morgan and Matt Murphy (sponsored by The Hare on the Green) came onto the wing berths, replacing the injured Barnie West and unavailable due to work commitments JJ Ward, with Dan Malem taking the flyhalf shirt in place of Sam Hirons, and versatile skipper for the day Roger Shakespeare (sponsored by Gunfire) moving to inside centre from his more usual openside flanker position.
On a bright, blustery afternoon at the Racecourse, the home side started well enough as they looked to reverse the 42-20 defeat suffered away at Bourne back in October, and had the best of the possession and territory for the first quarter, with the returning Luke Murphy seemingly providing the catalyst for some welcome dominance at the set piece, but were unable to convert pressure into points and duly paid the price in the second quarter as Bourne took the lead with a converted try from only their second real attack of the half, their centre picking a good line to go in under the posts.
This was further compounded on 32 minutes, as once again Bourne proved the more clinical and double their lead with another converted try, arguably against the run of play, taking a 14 points to nil lead into the halftime break.
Things went from bad to worse early in the second half, as the visitors livewire scrumhalf darted over to leave Stags trailing by 21 unanswered points.
This proved to be the wake-up call that Stags needed, and they lifted the pace and urgency and went in pursuit of an unlikely comeback, being rewarded with a try for Tango Morgan on the hour, making amends for losing the ball in the act of scoring in the first half, to reduce the deficit to 14 points and provide the home supported with a glimmer of hope.
Stags responded and poured on the pressure, with a Joe Hicken (sponsored by Ceres Rural) score 10 minutes later putting them within 7 points. However, this was to be shortlived as Stags threw caution to the wind in a bid to get back on terms, and 3 minutes later the visitors pounced on a misplaced pass 15 metres out to run the length of the field for what would proved the decisive score. However, Stags were not done yet, and further pressure, with Bourne reduced to 14 men, saw replacement prop Sammy Johnson barrel his way over from 10 metres to earn an all important losing bonus point, which sees Stags climb to fourth in the Midlands 3 East standings.
Coach Reggie Reid commented after the game ‘Fair play to Bourne, they took their limited chances and were clinical. We didn’t play the conditions well enough, and were then forced to overplay when we were chasing the game. Great character to come back in such a positive way, but we can’t give teams such a big head start and then leave ourselves 20 minutes to claw it back.
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