Blaydon 37 Stourbridge 16
IT WAS men against boys as Stourbridge crashed to their third defeat in four games against National Two title contenders Blaydon at Crowtrees.
Stourbridge travelled north without experienced centre Adam Billig and lock Simon Homer because of injuries and they suffered another major setback just 15 minutes before kick-off when ex-Birmingham & Solihull back-row Duncan White was forced to withdraw after he tore a stomach muscle in the warm-up.
Blaydon were quick to expose an inexperienced three-quarters line of Tom Hughes, Martin Freeman, Scott Morris and Will Barclay and capitalised on the visitors’ handling errors and missed tackles to run in five tries.
Stourbridge were 37-6 down at one stage but rallied with late tries from Ally Bressington and Barclay to go with Bressington’s two penalties.
“We were sadly lacking in experience, especially in the three-quarters, and Blaydon scored from virtually every error we made,” said Stourbridge’s forwards’ coach John White.
