Bishop’s Stortford lose 22-19 at home to Sedgley Park in National 1
An out-of-sorts Bishop’s Stortford suffered a 22-19 home defeat to an aggressive Sedgley Park in National 1 on Saturday (January 25).
Tries from Harrison Langworthy, Chris Bolton and Tristan Smith were in vain for the hosts at Silver Leys.
Stortford, who have lost four games in a row by no more than eight points, did pick up a bonus point for being within seven of their opponents.
Tom Coleman’s men, who remain ninth in the table, have this weekend off before visiting table-topping Rams on Saturday February 8.
Disorganised at the opening dropout, the home side conceded an attacking lineout and compounded it by conceding a breakdown penalty.
They then found themselves a converted try behind after only three minutes as Dan Rylance touched down and Warren Seals converted from the touchline.
Stortford bounced back well, but contrived to butcher two good try-scoring chances before levelling the scores when Langworthy crashed over from close quarters. Tom Mills converted.
Park, who are one place and one point below Stortford in the standings, deservedly regained the lead after 34 minutes by exploiting some poor defensive alignment for Matt Law to run in under the posts. Seals again added the extras.
Stortford levelled the scores after the interval when Bolton touched down after some uncharacteristically slick handling stretched the Park defence. Mills again converted.
The visitors got their noses back in front five minutes later as Seals kicked penalty before the fly-half himself touched down after Stortford had been turned over inside the opposition 22.
The home team battled to the end and were rewarded with a consolation try and losing bonus point at the death when Smith quickly tapped one of a number of penalties at five-metre lineouts to plunge over.
Stortford: Mills, C Smith, Biard, Pope, Gilham, Powell, Murphy; T Smith, Bell, Hill, Ferguson, Kiff, Jones, Johnson, Langworthy. Replacements: Peck, Rayment, H Charter, Bolton, Hayes.
Sedgley Park: Glasse, Thorpe, Law, Scanlon, Henderson, Seals, Sturgess; Blanchard, Gregory, Rylance, Birtwell, Cox, James, Bradley, Leatherbarrow. Replacements: Downham, Mallinson, Connor, Deans, Riley.
Scorers: Stortford - Tries: Langworthy 10, Bolton 50, T Smith 80; Cons: Mills 11, 51. Sedgley Park - Tries: Rylance 3, Law 34, Seals 64; Cons: Seals 4, 35; Pens: Seals 55.
Referee: Jack Moorhouse.
Star man: Lewis Bradley (Sedgley Park).
Attendance: 560.