Stortford’s U15 Bs headed into what was going to be a challenging, pool-topping fixture with Ruislip on Sunday. The blues started brightly, taking advantage of Ruislip’s indiscipline to score an early try out wide. Both teams pressed hard and with the wind and sun advantage in the first half, Ruislip made their way up to and over Stortford’s goal-line, but the referee deemed that the ball was held up and awarded an attacking scrum. Ruislip’s number 8 found space on the blindside and charged over. With a missed conversion, the score was level at 5-5. Stortford were becoming increasingly dominant in the pack and crucial metres being made by front-row charges from an in-form George O’Hara punching through the breakdowns and offering vital territory to the home side. A resulting converted try allowed Stortford to enter the break leading 12-5.
The second half saw Ruislip fight-back and the scores were soon level at 12-all and stayed this way for most of the period. With 10 minutes to go, a Ruislip infringement inside their own 22, offered Stortford the opportunity to retake the lead again and Josh Perry-Jones slotted the penalty in front of the posts. Unfortunately, Stortford were then caught napping and Ruislip pounced to nab the lead for the first time in the match with only 6 minutes to go. A determined and focused Perry-Jones though bullied his way through Ruislip’s defences to score in corner in the dying seconds, closing-out a hard-fought, well-matched game.