Blaydon RFC 11 - 40 Stourbridge RFC

STOURBRIDGE made the long trip north to face a Blaydon team who are struggling at the bottom of the league with just one win so far.

After a fairly even start, it was the hosts who notched up the first score following a Stour infringement in a very good position and John Whyman slotted over for a 3-0 lead after just 18 minutes.

However, it took just four minutes for Joe Heatley, playing in his third different starting position of the season to score his seventh try following a nice interception on the half way line, Chris Scott added the extras.

Moments later Josh Trinham went down after a nasty head clash and was replaced by Nick David who was to see out the rest of the match.

Blaydon hit back with a try of their own on the half hour mark. After some attacking pressure by Blaydon, Keith Laughlin charged down the Stour clearance kick and Blaydon No 15 Nathan Bailey gathered loose ball for a five pointer but they failed to convert.

Shortly before half time Blaydon found themselves a man down after persistent offside calls. A period of intense pressure from Stour's dominant scrum, gave the referee Benjamin Davis no option but to award a penalty try making it 8-14 and the remainder of the half went scoreless.

Blaydon started the second half well with a point penalty scored after 51 minutes by replacement fly-half Ryan Foreman only for Dan Rundle to chalk up another valuable try six minutes later, Afeafe Haisila added the extra points.

Blaydon rallied for a short spell but, by now, had started to tire and their pressure was simply soaked up by the visitors. Indeed, Stourbridge had to wait until the 71st minute for their bonus point score when replacement back Nick David scored after a break out left by Haisila.

The conversion was successful and Stour's replacement hooker, Sam Wilkes, was next to add his name to the score sheet. The conversion was unsuccessful.

Blaydon conceded a further last minute try to Haisila who added the extras himself to give Stourbridge their sixth straight win of the season, placing them top of National League Two North.

Next week they face ninth-placed Huddersfield at Stourton Park.