Mitch bemoans lack of "respect" (From Dudley News)

Mitch bemoans lack of "respect"

1:30pm Thursday 18th October 2012 in Stourbridge RFC

NEIL Mitchell has accused Stourbridge RFC of showing “disrespect” towards their opponents.

The Saxons remained top of National Two North and maintained their perfect record thanks to a 28-13 win at Caldy last Saturday.

Stour raced into a 25-6 half-time but director of rugby Mitchell was less than impressed with a scrappy second-half display, which culminated in the sending off of James Rodley for a punch.

Mitchell said: “I don’t know what happened.

“It is not the first time we have been poor in the second-half this season.

“I think it’s disrespectful to the opposition and had they managed to get a couple of quick scores, we would have been vulnerable and placed in a position we have not been in so far this season.

“There were no rollickings after the game, they will come at training.

“For the first-time this season there will be some finger pointing because there are some very experienced players who switched off and let a good team come back at us.”

He added: “All we needed to do was maintain the same attitude for the first 10 minutes of the second-half.

“Had we got another score it would have put the game to bed — that is the way to conduct your business.

“Instead we let ourselves in for 40 minutes of attrition.”

Meanwhile, Mitchell’s meticulous preparation has him looking forward to this Saturday’s visit of Otley to Stourton Park.

The Stour director of rugby is particularly keen on points differentials and while the visitors have been prolific scorers with an average of 31.7 points per game, they have also conceded 29.3 per game and Mitchell says this statistic “excites” him.

He said: “It’s the indication of a team which plays rugby but it’s also the sign of a team which can be beaten and be exploited.

“I’d be lying if I said the 29.3 points against didn’t excite me.”

Rodley faces an automatic two match ban for his sending off, while Robbie Hurrell and Gary Dipple are also doubtful for this weekend’s clash.