Bishop’s Stortford beat Sale FC 14-7 to make it three National 1 wins in a row
Alex Gilham and Josh Stannard got the tries as Bishop’s Stortford made it three straight wins by beating Sale FC 14-7 in National 1 on Saturday (December 7).
The hosts triumphed in appalling conditions at Silver Leys to register their sixth success of the campaign.
Tom Coleman’s side are eighth in the table going into this Saturday’s (December 14) trip to 10th-placed Dings Crusaders.
Both sides moved the ball around impressively in the wet and windy weather, but a number of scoring chances inevitably went begging through handling errors.
Sale, who are one place below Stortford, had an early edge and took advantage of two successive penalties to win a five-metre lineout, with Joe Gilmore slicing through close to the maul to touch down under the posts. Oliver Davies added the extras.
Stortford bounced back and stretched the opposition defence with some impressive offloading before Gilham touched down from Dan Powell’s clever chip kick under the posts. Chris Bolton converted to take the sides into the very welcome half-time break all square.
The second half followed a very similar pattern to the first, but with Stortford now just on top. Sale, nevertheless, tested the home team’s mettle, pressing deep into their 22 a couple of times, but the line held.
After 57 minutes, Stortford captain and man-of-the-match Will Rogers broke well from a scrum just outside his team’s 22 and a testing cross kick put the visitors under pressure, conceding a penalty.
Although their forwards held several drives at the line, the defence was progressively sucked in and Stannard was finally given room outside to canter in for the winning try, well converted by Powell.
Stortford: Reynolds-West, Stannard, Mills, Pope, Gilham, Powell, Bolton; Peck, Rayment, Hill, Ferguson, Kiff, Jones, Johnson, Rogers. Replacements: Olver, Reynolds, T Charter, Briers, Hayes.
Sale FC: Dixon, Ene, Dunne, Robins, Walsh, Davies, Street; Carlile, Brown, Parker, Gray, Vickers, Hughes, Gilmore, Priestley-Nangle. Replacements: Longstaff, Ford, Birchall, Booth, Green.
Scorers: Stortford - Tries: Gilham 34, Stannard 58; Cons: Bolton 35, Powell 59. Sale FC - Tries: Gilmore 20; Cons: Davies 21.
Referee: Tim Allatt.
Star man: Will Rogers (Stortford).
Attendance: 432.
