Willenhall 39 points Stourbridge Lions 16

Willenhall maintained their recent good form to pick up their 6th home league win of the season and their 3rd in 4 matches. The home team replaced Paul Husband in the second row with Paul Smith and welcomed Andy Spearman back onto the bench after injury.

Willenhall kicked off down the slope in the first half and, as Lions tried to make ground a crunching double tackle by Potts and Sadler on a driving forward brought an immediate penalty for holding on. Potts put the penalty into the corner but Stourbridge recovered the ball only to knock on whilst moving it wide on their 22. This was the start of some direct and powerful running by the Willenhall outfit which resulted in a score after only 6 minutes. Cowell ran strongly from the base of a scrum into the heart of the visitors defence and when the ball was moved wide the pass was put down with a 2v1 overlap. However a massive drive at the scrum stood Lions front row up and the tap was taken on by Gilbert and recycled. Sadler chipped into the corner to cause panic in the visitors defence and Adam Clewley claimed his first try of the season by diving on the loose ball to score in the corner. Willenhall 5 Lions 0. However Willenhall team were not having it all their own way. A series of line outs and scrums in Willenhall’s half needed a good defensive show before Potts cleared his lines and winger Alan Dyke put a great kick chase in to recover the ball in the Lions 22 to set up another good attacking position. Gilbert, Cowell and Clewley carried the ball well, whilst the front row of Reece, Wharton and Richardson were beginning to dominate the scrums.
Stourbridge conceded another penalty at the scrum on 20 minutes but Sadler’s kick drifted wide from 35 metres only to be knocked on by a Lions player as he fielded the kick at goal. From the scrum Tibbitts and Cowell combined to send the young captain hammering at the line. Willenhall conceded a penalty at the ruck and Lions broke out with a quick tap forcing Dyke to tackle his man into touch only 20 metres short of the home try line. As Stour attacked through their backs a dropped pass was cleared up by Barker but he conceded a penalty for holding on in the tackle and Stour converted the kick from 35 metres to leave the home team with a narrow 5-3 lead. A second Stour penalty from 45 metres in the 30th minute put the visitors ahead 6-5. Townsend gathered the kick off and fed Cowell who drove to the posts, stepping through tackles and a Sadler kick into the corner kept the visitors in their own 22 until a line out steal allowed them to clear to the half way. On their next possession, Sadler made a big tackle on his opposite man who was penalised for holding on – the penalty by Potts was held up in the wind but a score looked on the cards for the home team. The break through was made by Sadler in the dying minutes of the half. Fed by Junior after collecting an attempted clearance the young centre counter attacked the space and raced into the Stour 22. Tom Cowell acted as the link to Barker and from the resulting ruck the opposition were too stretched to defend their left hand side and the ball was moved to Dyke who gave Andy Jones an easy run in to regain the lead at 10-6.

The lead changed hands again within 2 minutes of the restart. A defensive line out was lost by the home team and although Townsend stole the ball in the maul and broke to the 22, Stour regained possession and moved it to their centre on the left who broke 3 tackles to get over in the corner. 11-10 to the Lions. Full back Barker was injured in the tackle and was replaced on 43 minutes by Wootton with Andy Jones moving to full back. Willenhall regained the lead with a try by Townsend on 47 minutes after Potts had kicked to the corner. Potts converted to extend Willenhall’s lead to 17-11. For the next 5 minutes the Stourbridge fly half put some long tactical kicks down the slope but Jones and Tibbitts dealt with them with ease. On 50 minutes Reece was replaced at prop after the loose head had given his opposite number a torrid time in the set piece. The Stour player must have been mightily relieved at the end of Reece only to see him replaced by Andy Spearman – he must have wondered what he had done to deserve such treatment. The replacement immediately stole the ball in a maul and set Cowell away. Good hand s by Potts and Sadler set Jones away but the ball went down with an overlap on. Thorley replaced Junior on the wing on 55 minutes and he received early ball on the short side of a scrum 30 metres out. Cowell, Tibbitts and Jones combined to set the replacement powering through only to be well tackled 15 m short. Willenhall kept the pressure on and a line out 25 metres out was the launching pad for another score. Gilbert took a clean catch and the driving maul took the pack 15 m towards the try line. Nick Townsend finished it off by breaking from the maul and powering over from 10 m. to extend the lead to 22-11.

Willenhall were now playing their best rugby of the afternoon with backs and forwards combining to string numerous phases of play together to drive the Lions back. Gilbert, Richardson and Townsend carried well and Smith looped round the centres to drive up the left wing. The visitors were now conceding a stream of penalties and Potts put them back in their own corner on 65 minutes. Another catch and drive got them to within 5 m and Cowell was held up over the try line. From the 5 m scrum, the home pack drove Lions into their own in goal and Tibbitts dived on the ball to score. The try was converted by Potts for a 29-11 lead. From the kick off, Cowell fed Clewley who popped the pass to Townsend – the big blindside again broke the Lions defence and fed to Sadler who carried 40 metres up field. It took a fine tackle by the full back to ankle tap 10 metres out. Stourbridge gave a warning that the game was not over with a 90 metre try of their own. The fly half avoided Cowell and Clewley on his own line and set off on a 50 metre run supported by his centres and wing. Despite last ditch tackles by the Willenhall chasers, the ball was shipped right for an unconverted score in the corner to bring the visitors back to 29-16. Another 40 metre break by Sadler saw him foiled by the full back again and a maasive bomb by Wootton into the in goal area which Thorley failed to ground correctly promised more for Willenhall and it came on 75 minutes. 18 year old Colt Harvey Wootton stepped inside his man from a scrum ball and sprinted 30 m to score under the posts for his first 1st XV try – converted by Potts to take the score to 36-16. Willenhall were still not finished and from the kick off Cowell fed Spearman who sprinted 15 metres up the touchline and popped the ball back inside to fellow prop Richardson. Not to be outdone the human cannonball powered 30 metres up the slope into the Lions 22. When the ball was recycled, Potts coolly dropped a goal from 30m to register the biggest win of the season – Willenhall 39 points Stourbridge Lions 16.

Eric Field
Press Officer, Willenhall RUFC


2nd XV v Walsall 2nd XV Won 35-15
3rd XV v Walsall 3rd XV Won 33-10
4th XV v Trentham Vets Won 27-0