Stortford going places

If anyone needed confirmation that rugby's grassroots are healthy they needonly take a trip to Jobbers Wood in deepest Hertfordshire where Bishop'sStortford High School have established their new playing headquarters.

Having outgrown their school site in the town, they raised £1m in the pastthree years to buy a 35 acre site and put six pitches on it, plus spankingnew changing rooms and pavilion as part of their plan to become one of theleading lights in schoolboy rugby.

Last Saturday, they put out 12 teams against St Paul's from Barnes andtheir exciting 1st XV celebrated their first victory at Jobbers Wood. OnWednesday, they reached the last 64 of the Daily Mail Under 18 Cup, beatingWatford Grammar 20-12. Not without a struggle though. Watford's bigger packrefused to submit and although Stortford stretched the opposition withtheir slick and imaginative passing, they never quite reached the comfortzone.

Despite tricky conditions - a fierce wind blowing diagonally down the pitch- Stortford sent the ball wide at every opportunity and after a couple ofscoring passes went to ground in an over-anxious opening, full back TomCoates joined the line and sent left winger Luke Dewey scooting in for thefirst of two similar first half tries. But it was Watford who finished thehalf strongly with Stortford giving up too much possession in the rucks andgood defensive work was required to protect the 10-0 lead. Indeed, Watfordwinger Andy Sharpe was stopped two metres from the line and Coates had todo his job with a huge relieving kick.

The wind advantage came into play soon after the restart and led toWatford's first try. One of too many silly penalties conceded by Stortfordresulted in them penned near in their 22 from a line-out and Tim Bond madethe pressure tell from close range.

Watford sensed the game was not lost but Stortford's ability to reply, notjust in kind but with a stunning move which went right then left through adozen pairs of hands, rocked them on their heels again. Flanker GrantFarrow was the try scorer, picking the ball up off his toes to motor overfrom 10 metres. No conversion into the wind, 15-5. Still, Watford would notlie down and it was game on again when their openside Fred Spriggs caughtStortford napping at a ruck and went under the posts from 30 metres. DavidSoulsby's conversion made it 15-12.

Stortford's response was immediate. They made inroads from the kick off andwhen the ball went wide Watford appeared to have closed Dewey down10 metresfrom the line. But skipper and No 8 Ben Skirving, influential throughout,arrived to revive the impetus and he shipped the ball out for OliverStigwood to provide the scoring pass for powerful centre Alex Stockley.Another wonderful try and one to which gallant Watford finally had noreply.