South Leicester 27 Stourbridge 26
Another win with a bonus point in a game that should have been out of sight by the second half but yellow cards and a determined opposition put paid to any thoughts of a routine victory.
There used to be an advert whose slogan was its good to talk but not to a referee who had already made his views known on this with a penalty against Stourbridge for a comment made. There is a time and place for everything.
As the last game South's pack dominated the scrums but as the game wore on the ref's view of the dominance changed and the home side were penalised, hope the referee had not been upset by some of the chat
The match started well for South after a heel against the head, the first of many, saw the ball reach Gaz Turner for a try converted by Rickie Aley. Rickie Aley was the instigator of the second try with a cross field kick that was so accurate that it fell into the arms of Calum Gunn who waltzed over for an unconverted try
A loose kick was collected by Trinham the Stourbridge winger who linked up with his backs allowing Carpenter to cross for a try converted by Scott.
Play became a little fragmented and a loose ball was hacked on by Will Cave, Gaz Turner won the chase to collect his second try. Another Gunn try and an Aley conversion, took the score to 24-14 at half time
With the opening play of the second half, Aley added a penalty to put South 24-7 up and it looked as if South could build on this but Elvers reduced the arrears but the home side still looked to be likely winners.
Then came yellow cards and at one stage South were reduced to 13.Stourbridge went on the offensive scoring tries through Handley and Heatley, Scott converting one and it was a one point game. To South's credit they defended well and the forwards still managed to put the pressure on and with some last ditch tackles they saw the match out,
As a postscript Dale Ager, with Dave Pecks help took several heels against the head and it was thought that was instrumental in the win supporting the view that he along side Rickie Aley, for his astute kicking deserved the star man status, as it is not allowed to have two nominations, the Rugby Paper awarded Rickie Aley the star man, cannot argue with that.
Report by Mick McNeill