Sat 19 Feb 2022
Stags 16 – 17 Dunstablians
Stags suffered their second home loss of the season on Saturday, this time to third placed Dunstablians.
Despite the weather conditions in the run up to the game being decidedly grim, there was quiet optimism amongst the home supporters, 75 of whom enjoyed a pre-match luncheon in honour of Past Presidents, that they could reverse the 24-16 loss suffered at Dunstable back in November.
With the rain stopping just in time for kick off, the match was preceded by a minutes applause to pay tribute to Past President Chris Ascroft, who very sadly passed away on 1 February, and also joining clubs up and down the country in remembering Jack Jeffery of Evesham RUFC, who died following an injury sustained in the act of scoring a try last Saturday.
The men from the racecourse took to the field with a team featuring an unchanged backline from last week’s win at Daventry, but three changes in the forward pack, with Nick Saunders and Liam Findlay replacing Roger Shakespeare and Doug Clark in the back row, and Sammy Johnson, normally a loose head, replacing Luke Murphy at tight head.
Arguably, it was Murphy’s absence that proved most costly as the stags’ scrum, much improved in recent weeks, came under more and more pressure as the game went on, further exacerbated by the early loss of second row Nick Vallance to concussion.
Despite the difficulties at the set piece, it was Stags who drew first blood, a Joe Hicken penalty after 6 minutes giving them a 3-0 lead.
10 minutes later however, with Dunstablians camped on the stags line and using their dominant scrum to good effect, Hicken saw yellow for a technical offence, and down to 14 men, the Stags defence was quickly breached, with a unconverted try from a 5m scrum giving Dunstabs a narrow 3-5 lead.
On his return from his 10 minute rest, Hicken made amends with another penalty to squeeze Stags back in front by the narrowest of margins. However, the visitors were quick to restore their lead as the game moved into added time at the end of the first half, scoring their second unconverted try of the game after a prolonged spell of pressure to take a 6-10 lead into the half time oranges.
The second stanza started much like the first, with an early spell of Stags pressure again rewarded with a penalty from the reliable boot of Hicken, keeping them within a point.
Despite a creaking scrum, Stags stuck to the task and it remained a 1 point game heading into the final 10 minutes until, once again, concerted pressure from Dunstablians in the stags 22 saw them awarded a penalty try, and a yellow card for replacement scrum half Charlie Saunders, to open up an 8 point gap.
This seemed to inject some urgency into the Huntingdon side as they went looking to earn something for their afternoon’s toil, knowing another score would at least get a losing bonus point, This extra impetus saw them play their best rugby of the afternoon, with a break from number 8 Liam Findlay getting them firmly within range, and after retaining the ball through a number of phases, Findlay again got the ball in his hands and burst through for a try, with Hicken adding the extras to leave them trailing 16-17 . This was as good as it got though, as the referee’s whistle called time before Stags could launch another attack.
Once again, Bodge Saunders put in an eye catching performance, but the stand out player was young Jace Craig who is quickly adapting to the rigours of senior rugby after moving up from last years Colts side.
With 6 games of the season remaining, and four of those to be played at home, Stags are still in the running for a top four finish, and with selection and availability becoming more consistent, that could well be within reach.
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