Stockwood Park RFC resumed their league campaign on Saturday, and travelled to Rushden & Higham RFC At the start of the day, Stockwood Park were in fourth place, one place and six points above Rushden, so a tight game was anticipated.
After a slow start, both sides exchanged penalties, before Stockwood Park hit their stride. Resilient defence by the men in red and yellow blunted Rushden’s attempts to create openings. Then, after a great break-out from the 22, fly half, Sean Martyn, scored under the posts to give Nick Dundee a straightforward conversion. Further tries were scored before half time by Mark Smith and the returning Dan Loft; both were converted by Dundee.
Leading 24-3 at the break, Stockwood Park continued to tighten their grip on the game, with second rows, Connor Underwood and Jack Brooks prominent in the action. Jerome Iles showed great strength to open the second half scoring, with Dundee adding the extra 2. Martyn then went over for his second try of the afternoon, before Man of the Match, skipper Frank Daly, scored after a sniping break. Further tries were scored by the impressive Michael Powell, and Nick Dundee. Dundee was immaculate with the boot all afternoon, converting all seven tries.
Rushden managed a try towards the end, which was a reward for their endeavour, but the final score was 59-10 to Stockwood Park, reflecting a very dominant display all round. Park will now look forward to hosting unbeaten St Ives in their next fixture on Saturday November 22nd at 2.15pm