Club News

Stevenage Towns final Home league fixture of the season eventually ended in a rout 0 - 32 loss to Enfield, although the win came at a price to Enfield after the first-half red-carding of their Cypriot International lock, in a feisty and niggly encounter which mirrored the previous clash between the sides in December.

Despite having a lot of the play going downhill, Ignatians failed to capitalise and will have been disappointed after gathering a modest 3-0 half-time lead via the boot of their flyhalf, who also hooked another kick wide as the visitors' game literally became too hit and miss.

Knowing they were up against it from a tenacious Town side, in the second-half, Ignatians came out firing and showed what they were capable of by running in five tries without reply. Profiting from Stevenage ill-discipline, Ignatians drilled the ball to the corner and, from a well-worked rolling maul, the Enfield hooker stormed over.

The third try was engineered in similar fashion, although, on this occasion, it was South African blindside flanker, who was on hand to supply the necessary additional firepower by forcing his way over.

Otherwise, the blue and golds successfully deferred to the rapier-like qualities of the backline, in between the two forward-orientated scores.

Enfields winger successfully executed try number four, the ball travelled through several pairs of hands before the winger made the most of the space.

Ignatians had one more trick up their sleeve and a deft cross-field kick from their fly-half became a foot-race won by the Enfield winger. Two successful conversions completed the rout.

The Enfield Coach said "The Stevenage side we played was much better than the one in December and I must confess to being worried at half-time. However, against the odds and the elements, the side showed a steely side to its character, and it was very much a mental victory as we played with 14 men for 55 minutes.

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Stevenage Town hosted Saffron Walden and were hopeful that with some returning players they could revenge their earlier defeat in the season.

Townies played with commitment from the start and the first try by Captain Gareth Lewis was after a sustained period of early pressure, where he dummied the Saffron scrum half and sploshed over from 1 metre, and duly kicked the extras to present a 7-0 lead.

Saffron Walden replied with a try of their own which was unconverted and then a further try which was converted to give Saffron the lead – 7 - 12

Heiko Van Zwieten at centre was next on the score sheet through a well worked backs move involving 8 phases of play to score out wide - which went unconverted to equal the scores. 12 - 12

Third try from second phase ball on Towns 10 metre line Van Zwieten broke several tackles who fed Gareth Lewis to run in from 30 metres which he again converted to take the lead – 19 – 12.

Saffron Walden did not give up as Town were pressurising the Walden half a ball was intercepted and gifted the visitors the opportunity to claw back a draw with a try close to Towns posts – but the pressure told on the Saffron kicker who failed an easy kick to present Town with a much needed win and close the account 19 - 17

Stevenage Town 8 Holt 15

Stevenage Town entertained Holt from the Norfolk coast for the first time and the weather was miserable, but fortunately the rain stopped before kick-off, leaving the pitch very wet, but just about playable.

The game started well for Stevenage with a foothold in the Holt half and duly kicked a penalty after two minutes to take the lead 3-0.

The conditions did not help Holt’s style of play leading to enforced errors in handling a greasy ball. Stevenage encouraged by their early lead kept up the pressure on the visitors, as Holt were penalised for deliberate knock-on. Towns kick was off target, letting Holt off the hook.

Holt gradually lifted the siege and by gaining  possession on the half way line, drove the Towns’ forwards down the pitch with the reward of a touch down, putting Holt in the lead 3-5 after eleven minutes.

This inspired Holt to maintain the pressure, but a further score would not come, despite camping on the Stevenage line. Then the attack foundered on giving away a penalty, allowing Town to clear their lines and take play up field. With half-time approaching Holt had only a two point lead and this was nearly lost, when they were penalised for an indiscretion unfortunately again the Stevenage kicker was off target.

At the break, Holt had only a try to show for their endeavours and would certainly have to improve their handling to make an impression on their hosts, who would have the advantage of the slope.

The half started with Holt making a mess of possession and having to soak up a wave of Town attacks, again Lady Luck favoured Holt as another Town penalty was missed.

However the Stevenage pressure paid off after ten minutes with an unconverted try in the corner by Will Malins, putting Town back in the lead 8-5.

Holt gradually worked their way up field, but still could not break a determined defence, but eventually their perseverance paid off with an unconverted try following another drive over the goal line. This restored Holt’s lead 8-10 with a quarter of an hour remaining.

Town then subjected Holt’s defence to a thorough test, but their line held firm and eventually they broke away into Stevenage’s half. With time running out it was Holt’s turn to test the Stevenage defence as they followed up a charged down kick to score an unconverted try, giving Holt a safe cushion of seven points which was held on to until the final whistle.

The close win by 8-15, presented Town a consolation bonus point for an encounter which could have gone either way and only made safe for the visitors at the end.

Townies were on the end of another thumping, losing 31-0 away at Enfield Ignations and coach Andy Pert is hoping that a team list of injured players are scheduled to return into the new year, but they have a re-scheduled home game v Holt to complete their annus horribilis!

Townies had lessons to learn from Enfield Ignations as they didn't concede any tries in the game, and didn't look like conceding, with their defence clearly working well with their try line breached only once in the last three games.

Despite the Fort Ignatius  defence, to their credit, Stevenage proved a good spoiling side and they made life difficult for Enfield at times.

The blue and golds were always in the driving seat and they set the tone after just two minutes when right winger, claimed a fine individual try. Looking dangerous each time he touched the ball, he ran the ball back with considerable interest and, after weaving and jinxing his way through, he shredded the defence with a score which was very pleasing on the eye.

Stevenage struggled to contain Ignatians' dominant pack throughout and the blue and golds shook the dice and doubled their lead on 20 minutes, just after the Stags had Matt Plummer sin-binned for a cynical piece of play.

In the first instance the power of the Ignatians' maul almost told after an attacking forward was held up over the line.

Not that Ignatians were about to let Stevenage off the hook as, from the ensuing five-metre scrum, Town were shunted abruptly into reverse by the force of the blue and golds' initial surge. Driving straight and true, Ignatians just about managed to keep control at the back of the advancing scrum before their number eight plunged over the line.

The moment was made even sweeter for the Blue & Golds after their conversion whistled between the uprights although it wasn't until late in the half when Ignatians further extended their lead with the pick of their five tries which completely caught Stevenage on the hop.

From a set scrum near to the half way line, quick-thinking Ignatians successfully played the blindside card. Their No. 8 set in motion the chain of events by feeding the scrum-half, at the back of the scrum, and the half-back used his pace to link-up with their left winger, whose powerful burst and low centre of gravity enabled him to whistle past his opposite number.

Timing his offload to perfection, the winger found a supporting flanker although still wasn't home and dry but using his strength he wriggled his way over the line. With the extras added Ignatians capped a dominant first 40 minutes to lead three tries to nil.

The blue and golds didn't quite scale the heights beyond the first half, and for this, Stevenage, having missed a first-half penalty, must take some credit as they scavenged and scrapped for all they were worth.

Ignatians wrapped up the bonus point on 52 minutes when their No. 8 secured his brace.

After building through the phases, and despite not prospering via the maul, Ignatians were still in a good position of being given the put-in from a five metre scrum, although Stevenage dug-in.

Yet, just when things were threatening to get a bit messy at the back of the scrum, Ignations No. 8 showed his prowess by picking the ball up and peeling blind. The defence was very slow to react and the backrower's probe was amply rewarded as he dotted down fairly easily for a score converted.

The hosts weren't finished and added a fifth try, although they had to wait a further 23 minutes before troubling the scoreboard. Again, from the excellent offensive position of a five metre scrum, the Ignations centre ran an excellent line which resulted in their flanker crashing through to complete the rout. With a third conversion this completed another miserable day for the Townies 31-0.

Stevenage Town Rugby club recently saw nearly 400 children from Stevenage schools attend the club to participate in the 2012 MBDA Tag Rugby Festival.

National Defence Company MBDA had agreed to sponsor the event for another year so that this magnificent tournament could go ahead.

The run-up to the tournament had seen the Stevenage Town community team provide coaching to the 26 schools participating to ensure their skills were in fine form on the day.

Stevenage Sporting Futures Team provided Sports Apprentices from each of the Senior Schools to assist with refereeing and co-ordination along with the scores of willing volunteers from Stevenage Town Rugby Football Club.

With 38 teams in total competing for the Cup, Plate or Shield, the pool stages saw some fantastic rugby on display with over 250 tries being scored.

After a really exciting morning, the pool stages came to a close with all three finals being equal on merit.

In the Shield final St Vincent De Paul stormed to victory against an impressive Lodge Farm team who had been in impressive form all day.

The Leys faced a tough challenge in the Plate final as they were beaten narrowly by Bedwell.

Meanwhile, in another close game, Longmeadow took Knebworth to the wire, with Knebworth coming out winners of the Cup Final.

Lead Youth Development Coach - Ben Linard said “Today has been one of the largest Tag Festivals in the county and our aim is to see many of these youngsters in a Stevenage Town Rugby shirt in the very near future”.

Coaching Co-Ordinator Dave Smith said that “it was great to host a Festival in which so many youngsters enjoyed themselves – at Stevenage Town Rugby Club we welcome youngsters of all ages and abilities from U7 to U19.”

Training takes place at North Road on Sunday Mornings with midweek training for youth sides under floodlights.

Please contact - info@stevenagerugby.com - Mobile 07949 198341

Despite cold and heavy rain Town bravely fought back to make up for 2 earlier soft tries, but lost out in the basement battle at the Marshes. 

Heavy weather conditions could not hide a lacklustre display from both sides. A sombre mood in the Marshes bar disguised the homesides element of relief as Townies valiant attempt to claw back a win was too little too late. 

Street started well, despite a cross-wind and consistent rain sweeping across the Marshes plain. It took minutes for a dominant scrum to push over in the corner with the extras slotted over with ease. 

Despite coming off second best in many contact areas, Stevenage then scored against the run of play. A turn-over in midfield led to a score after some poor Street defence close to a ruck, with storm trooper Danny Gwilliams strolling over in disbelief to score. 

Most of the rest of the game was played near the Stevenage line, and led to a rare moment of skill as Streets winger skinned his opposite winger before chipping the covering defence and diving on the ball before it rolled out of play to score a memorable try. 

With a rare Stevenage foray into the Street half Town were unlucky not to score again as a deliberate knock on prevented a further Town advance. Quite rightly Street were reduced to 14 just before the whistle as punishment for the cynical deed. 

Streets expectations were high to continue as other teams had done and canter over a plucky Stevenage side, whose defence then improved until the half-time whistle. 

The level of performance of both sides deteriorated after the break, as the light got worse, clearances repeatedly missed and ball gifted through unforced errors. 

Town eventually chipped away at the lead with a successful penalty to end a miserable day on the Marshes – 18 - 8

Stevenage Town 15 - 52 Braintree 

Despite any early attack from the start by Braintree, bottom side Stevenage went 10-0 ahead before Tree started to click. 

A 35-metre penalty from Gareth Lewis after 13 minutes put Town 3-0 in front as the visitors’ early forays petered out without a points return. 

And things went from bad to worse for Tree on 26 minutes when poor defensive play and a delayed clearance kick by Tree enabled Stevenage winger Tom McGrath to score a try from a brilliant chip and chase move. 

Lewis converted the score to give the hosts a 10-point cushion but their lead was short-lived as tree hit back straight from the re-start. 

A midfield move saw the ball fed to Trees young winger whose inside pass was collected by outside centre for a try in the corner. 

Six minutes later Tree grabbed the lead when a blind side move and some good inter-passing enabled inside centre to crash over in the left hand corner before converting brilliantly for a 12-10 lead. 

The visitors had no got a head of steam up and they extended their lead just two minutes later after carving an opening straight from the re-start. 

A powerful run by the Trees saw their full-back slip the ball to Centre who crashed over for his second try of the game, which Was ably converted for 19-10. 

Two minutes before the interval Tree were at it again as they won a midfield scrum following Stevenage’s failure to move the ball 10 metres from the re-start. 

This time it was another Trees winger who rounded off the move to score a bonus point clinching try which the in-form kicker somehow converted from near the touchline to secure a 26-10 half-time lead.

Things got worse for the Townies after the break as Tree pushed on relentlessly and they stretched their advantage on 62 minutes.

Trees Scrum-half picked up from the base of the pack and their winger arrived in the line at pace before finding their centre who raced through to score his second try. 

Another conversion to give Tree a 33-10 lead which they extended just six minutes later with a superb off-load enabled Trees winger to complete his hat-trick with a try under the posts. 

The inside centre then converted the score to put his side 40-10 in front, but they then suffered a blow as Trees try scorer was yellow-carded on 70 minutes for a late tackle. 

Stevenage fought hard to make the extra man count but were further undone when they pressed forward only for a stray pass to be intercepted by Trees winger, who raced a full 80 metres to score. 

Once again their kicker did the honours with the boot to put Tree 47-10 in front, although Stevenage reduced the arrears on 78 minutes when second row Connor Mitchell sniped their second try of the game.

There was still time for Tree to score again in the dying seconds as their winger, by now returned to the fray, overturned possession in midfield before slipping a pass to Trees flanker who crashed over in the corner to complete the rout.

STEVENAGE TOWN RUGBY CLUB - HOSTED A PRESS CONFERENCE WITH DRAMATIC FIREWORK DISPLAY FOR UNISON ON WEDNESDAY 24TH OCTOBER.

Whilst the club makes no comnent on the political message, our guests went away very happy with our welcoming hospitality and a very successful promotional event that will be used nationally. 

DISPLAY BY ALCHEMY FIREWORKS