It was a gorgeous day for rugby as the stags took on Bromsgrove who unfortunately were only able to bring 14 men. The stags are a tough team to play at home on a normal day so it’s very commendable from Bromsgrove to not just concede the game.

Kick off begins and stags straight away look hungry and regather the ball. They put some very slick phases together with Bully marshalling the play and Nugget carrying with the ferocity of a rabid Tasmanian devil which continued all game. 2 mins in and the first try was scored by the young S Hubbard with a quick snipe and sprint through to the line.
7-0 (bully told off for losing the first of many balls in the tennis courts to seal the conversion)

Kick off was caught by N Reeves on the left side and to everyone’s surprise he ran and didn’t immediately injure himself. Instead he broke through 3 tackles, followed up with a lovely side step on the covering 9 and then a slick line past the 15 to go down under the posts.
14-0 (another ball lost and Jocky is getting very angry)

Play went back and forth for a bit but the stags made good metres off each carry eventually being awarded with a penalty and opted for a scrum because forwards get Randy over scrums weirdly. Solid scrum gives a perfect platform for the backs to run a sumptuous wrap around play working it’s way to the more Smithers after some good hands.
19-0

Stags turnover ball in their own half after a good kick through from Broms. From this Sam Racklyeft cuts a line through the defence like a hot knife through butter making 40m Stags maintained possession and attack the blind side where Pads shows some quick acceleration to get through the tackle and a one handed offload to N Reeves. Reeves trots down the wing, not sure if he’s in top gear but surely had to score but gets tackled, and sends a no look off load along the floor to G Dowell who patiently waits for the ball to bounce nicely before collecting it and going unopposed and under the sticks.
26-0

Bromsgrove make a fight back but continue to make basic errors under much pressure from the stags D. Stags ability to keep possession in parts of todays game was simply outstanding, this led again to a ruck on the 5m, some good hard lines leaving space out the back for returning Joe Maz to eat up some yards and then release the ball wide for Sam Racklyeft to finish in the corner.
31-0

After the restart Stags found themselves in the middle of the pitch with the ball making it’s way to the hands of Steve Harvey he then channels his inner quade cooper, to make a wild switch pass against the flow of play, the ball travelling easily 30m to Lewis Gardners hands who continued the ball down the line to speedster Liam Smithers Hubbard touching down for his second.
38-0 and that’s the half.

Changes at half time meant the return of king Fluffy G, this is what the crowd have turned up to see. Immediate impact with his first touch, catching off the floor and side stepping his first victim and then running over another poor soul like Jonah lomu in his prime. Next phase and Dion runs a beauty of a line to cut through the defence and then offload to Adam Jordan who’s got a free run in to the line only to be chased down by the opposite 9 (like a scene out of documentary about the Serengeti), the scrum half miraculously catches pad, gets under the ball and makes it go over the dead ball line, Pad looks to have winded himself again for the second time this season but everyone confused and shocked about the event which had just taken place !!!!

Play carry’s on and Broms mount a good attack only for lonely runner to be taken down and turned over in the middle of the park. Scrum ball leads to Bully who side steps the first man weaving around for another 40m and very unselfishly offloads it to Joe Maz on the line who finishes the move.
45-0

Pressure is relentless from the stags who claim the kick off and run it straight back. Few phases and a few good carry’s are finished with a lovely step and gew from Nugget who offloads it back in field to a very good support line from Sammy Clayton’s who goes in unopposed.
52-0

The game finished with a finally effort from Bromsgrove touching over for their first and only of the day after Harvey had switched teams to even up the numbers. Brezzo and Harvey are still throwing handbags at each other about this try.

A very good day for the stags with plenty of young, new and returning players showing their class.

MOM goes to Josh Leonard errrrr sorry Ben Nugget Drakeford , the young lad stepped up today and was menace for Bromsgrove, didn’t let his intensity drop at any point.

Honourable mention to Joe maz and Sam Racklyeft for ripping it up in the centres and to Bully for subbing himself off due to blisters and needing to save his feet for a 5km park race on Sunday or something?

1 game remains in the league at home to Nuneaton in few weeks

UTS

By Josh sicknote Leonard