Third time lucky for Stourbridge

Sep 20 2010 by Roger Clarke, Birmingham Mail

IT WAS third time lucky for Stour as they called Tom Richardson off the bench to give them the organisation they needed to bring a last-gasp win over North Eastern visitors Blaydon.

The scrum-half brought guile and the tactical nous that had been missing and the words of director of rugby Neil Mitchell that Stour were a good side started to ring true.

Under Richardson’s command the Saxons started to dominate a match they had been losing 12-10 at half-time and when replacement fly-half Cameron Brown landed a penalty in the last minute to put Stour ahead the turnaround was complete.

Blaydon pressure from the start brought a try for Robbie Kalbraier and after Stourbridge prop Will Davis was yellow-carded, a converted score from centre Andy Baggett extended their interval lead.

Fly-half Luke Cozens had opened Stourbridge’s account with a penalty. He was also left with a routine conversion after full-back Tom Jarvis scored.

Blaydon full-back Dan Kyle kicked two penalties midway through the second half before Richardson’s match-defining impact.

The replacement’s scorching break sent No.8 James Freeman storming in before he took charge of midfield with a concerted spell of late pressure that resulted in prop Justin Clarke and Baggett seeing yellow and Brown seeing three points to record the first victory of the new term.