Stourbridge Rugby aim to complete National One campaign with a win

Apr 30 2010 by Brian Dick, Birmingham Mail

AFTER months of uncertainty and fretting about their place in National One, Stourbridge can afford to relax tomorrow in one of the few games involving the region’s top teams without anything riding on it.

Neil Mitchell’s side take on Cambridge at West Renault Park with little more to worry about than the victory that would guarantee them a top-half finish.

“That would be a great achievement considering where we have been at times this season,” Mitchell said in reference to Stour’s long and arduous battle against relegation.

That ended successfully last weekend when Newbury’s defeat at Tynedale ensured they could not catch Mitchell’s outfit.

And job done the director of rugby accepts tomorrow’s game will be about enjoyment rather than endurance.

“It has been a long hard season, physically and mentally,’’ he said.

‘‘You can see that by the fact so few players are excited about playing in the County Championship. Normally they’re well up for it but they are physically broken.

“We’re going to play this one for fun and have a bit of a party afterwards. It’s just nice to be able to relax.

“We’ve got some dynamic players out wide in Duncan Chance and Chris Tenucci so we can go there and finish on a high.”