The business end of the season is now upon us and Stowmarket began 2023 with an away trip to Chelmsford who had beaten them at home during the first half of the season 35-42.

Conditions were soft underfoot and a sweeping wind was going to mean the conditions were a factor, combined with a sloped pitch making each half a different challenge. Stowmarket won the toss and elected to defend the downward slope in the first half. They began well with some early inroads from some aggressive forwards play which allowed the back line to run with pace and power. A good phase play attack combined with a slick offload from returning inside centre Tom Crowe released skipper Dan Garrard down the left wing. He offloaded to Muno Marimiroja, who in turn popped to the arriving Jack Norfolk culminating in Chelmsford coughing up a penalty in the red zone. Player/Coach Jonathan Mann slotting the three points.

From the restart Stowmarket carried on pushing the initiative. Mann gave a superb dummy to catch the defence off guard, making a 30 metre line break before kicking on for the chasing Garrard to superbly gather and score. 0-10 to Stow with fifteen on the clock. The hosts however knew how to use their own pitch to good effect and started to string some phases together with some powerful runners and clever backs play, which resulted in a pop off the floor to a support runner who Stow didn't tackle low enough to disrupt the forward momentum, the try came and was converted to make it 7-10.

The set pieces were difficult on the slope, scrums in particular becoming an issue against a pack who had some downward momentum. Front row’s Haward, Turner, and Gwilliam-Bridges showed massive courage to stick at it. The pack held strong and held it together and Stow continued to pick away at Chelmsford and were soon to be successful when defending. Some good pressure defending from the back line saw Chelmsford spill the ball to Marimiroja’s feet, who kicked on superbly to give himself an easy try from 40 metres out. 7-17 with half time looming.

The first half was feisty with the home side trying to get under Stow’s skin. The referee began to exert his authority on the game and brandished a yellow card for an off the ball incident, giving Stow an advantage. This was short lived however, with Stow’s Scott Dunbar receiving a red card for a dangerous tackle in midfield. Despite this decision, Stow went into halftime 7-17 up and determined to now use the slope to good effect.

The second half messages done, Stow knew they needed to simply work hard, and use the ball when in possession. Down to 14 Chelmsford changed tack and ran everything from everywhere on the pitch to stretch the away sides' energy levels. Stow responded well to this and met the challenge with energy and grit. It took Chelmsford ten minutes to get over for their second try, with a well worked move allowing their winger to power over in the corner. Conversion missed, the game now stood at 12-17. The kick off was fumbled and Stow immediately had some possession to respond with, which Number 8 Ali Vivian duly obliged, crashing over from 5 meters out after some good round the corner play. Mann missed the tricky conversion. Stow’s task was then made harder by a yellow card for Jack Cole, making the head count 13.
Chelmsford knew where the advantage would be for them and they quickly moved the ball into the wing channels and caught Stow off guard, with a powerful run from the inside centre giving them an immediate response to make the score 17-22. The final fifteen minutes was nothing short of a Chelsmford onslaught. During this time they fought hard to hang on to the lead and everybody put their bodies on the line to reduce the effect of the numerical disadvantage. Each of the players did not shirk their responsibilities and gave everything they could to keep Chelsmford out. After Cole’s return, Stow continued to soak up pressure until the last play of the game. Chelmsford having a scrum in the centre of Stow’s 22, a difficult position to defend and a pivotal moment in the game.

What then happened was a spectacular moment for the players, supporters, and Rugby as a whole. The scrum turned over thanks to the great work of the forwards, picked up by Ali Vivian who commits two defenders before offloading to Mann, who drove down field and got a pass away to Garrard who is now at this point running too fast for the VEO camera to keep up with, he offloads to the supporting Mann, who then finds Scott Woolnough from ten metres out to go crashing over. Try bonus point sealed, and no points for the home side. A true piece of champagne Stowmarket.

Man of the Match: Jonathan Mann.

After the victory Director of Rugby, Ash Cook said:

‘Having lost to Chelsmford twice last season we now find ourselves in the position where we are disappointed not to have taken 10 points off them this season. The lads really had to deal with a lot of barriers and complications today and I am thrilled that they rolled their sleeves up and got on with the job. It would have been so easy for us to throw a pity party in the second half when down to 13 but we stuck at it and got the full reward of five points. We played some fantastic Rugby which we have been working on all season and a lot of our core skills came out shining today. That final try is one of my top 3 personal best moments as both a player and coach for the club, proper stuff!

We are firmly in control of our own destiny at the moment which is where we want to be. We believe we are a top half side and we are keen to follow through on that. We have even more to offer but we must make sure we convert that now, the season isn't done in January

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Ashley Cook

Chelmsford 17
Stowmarket 29
Coronation Park