South finish 7th in the league, National 2

South Leicester 46 Stourbridge 26

Souths last match of season concluded with a bonus point win in a game that had dropped passes, loose kicking and good rugby plus eleven tries making it an entertaining way to end what has been a successful season.
Stourbridge started well with a Heatley chip which Rundle could not quite gather. South gradually began to push the visitors back through Rickie Aley's astute kicking. The breakthrough came after 9 minutes following Dale Agers throw to back of the line which found its way to Matt Riddington who broke the tackle and put Taiye Olowofela over, Aley converting. 7-0.Within 3 minutes Stourbridge were on level terms with a converted try that that almost identical to Souths. 7-7.Ater a missed opportunity due to a Olowofela knock on the same player ran through after Wes Copes pass, Aley converted 14-7.A high tackle on Cope saw the visitors down to 14 and they almost immediately conceded a try.The resulting penalty was put into the corner by Aley,a catch and drive was executed well,Ager latched onto the ball and was driven over. the angle defeated Aley's conversion 19-7..Again Stourbridge hit back quickly with an unconverted try 19-12. Chances went begging for South as a forward pass and a knock on saw them reach HT still at 19-12
Within a minute of the restart following an exhilarating interchange of passes, Will Ward crossed, Aley adding the extras 26-12.Two minutes later Gaz Turner's run and pass put Olowfela in for an unconverted try 31-12.This followed by some ping pong kicking from both sides until the game settled down and the Stourbridge hooker burrowed over from short range for a converted try 31-19.Aley stretched the lead with a penalty 34-19.The visitors brought the scores closer capitalizing on a South wayward line out throw and scored a converted try 34-26.Stourbridge saw a chance to get further points but this was snuffed out by two late South tries. Chris Gibbs squeezing over after pressure on the visitors line, Aley converting 41-26.Just before the final whistle the green and whites put the game to bed with well deserved Wes Cope try whose energy at that late stage of the match gave him a chance to be on the end of a pass to touch down for an unconverted try. 46-26.

We wait for next season with some new teams in the league and maybe some changes in the South Leicester line up.
See you next September
Mick McNeill