The boy Hoppa decided to follow Stow on their visit to Bicester. The day was started with mulled wine at a famous stables, he was then driven to Bicester by Mrs Hoppa for the game. Mrs Hoppa left him and went shopping, then picked him up. Not too much detail after that, as the hospitality was top class, but we think Hoppa sang on the way home. The house was rather frosty Sunday am with Mrs Hoppa - festive. Thank you to the guys at Stow for the report by Mr Tim Bevan and the photo.
BICESTER 5 STOW 60
With 5 changes from the previous week- one positional- Stow are wary of slip ups, especially against old foes like Bicester
But a repeat of last week, Stow were fast out of the blocks and after gaining possession from the kick off, via three quick phases fed the ball along the line to Nick Cafearo who touched down wide out on the right wing.
Bicester rallied and showed some aggressive attacking intent, but Stows defence prevailed, and stole possession after 10 mins and quickly gained a scrum on the bicester line. Stow no.8 picked up and fed in Matt Green the stow scrum half under the posts, to make the score 12-0
Bicester with the help of the referee made progress up the slope which set up a period of sustained pressure in the Stow 22 until the Stow took a
scrum against the head and the backs showed quick hands and heels for ED FANSHAW to score on the left wing 19- 0 in the 31 st min.
The Bicester backs were struggling on little or poor possession, but when they had the chance were proving quick and elusive and scored a good try - unconverted -at the start of the second half , 19-5
A second front row injury to the Bicester hooker led to uncontested scrums which spoilt the match. Stow adapted well and kicked a penalty. Their passing and running ( and often at the same time) and fitness was now too much for their opponents. Alex Kelly made a good break, offloaded and three passes later TIM HOLMES scored on the left after 52 mins
Bicester were now trying to kick their way out of trouble but on 60 mins George Rodden collected and set his backs running once again and JAMES FORD
touched down for an unconverted try in the RH corner 34-5 and a minute later Louis Chapman tackled and stripped his opponent of the ball, fed Alex Kelly who outpaced or eluded bicester from 55 yds out 41-5
From another uncontested scrum on 70 mins George Rodden broke and supplied a try scoring pass to TIM HOLMES who showed excellent pace to score close to the posts. 48-5 and 3 mins later, back from a long injury lay off JO NOTT fed Tims brother JAMIE HOLMES to score another try on wide left 53-5
Nick Cafearo had scored in the first minute and rounded off a fine personal performance in the 76th minute scoring a good try after a move of at least 10 passes and converted the try himself to bring his kicking tally to 7 out of 10 including 1 penalty and total points scored to 25.
Another fine performance by stow and another 9 tries. Fine running and handling by backs and forwards alike, good scrummaging and fine work at the breakdown makes a team difficult to beat. They must be wary of the day they don`t turn up........
Bicester rallied and showed some aggressive attacking intent, but Stows defence prevailed, and stole possession after 10 mins and quickly gained a scrum on the bicester line. Stow no.8 picked up and fed in Matt Green the stow scrum half under the posts, to make the score 12-0
Bicester with the help of the referee made progress up the slope which set up a period of sustained pressure in the Stow 22 until the Stow took a
scrum against the head and the backs showed quick hands and heels for ED FANSHAW to score on the left wing 19- 0 in the 31 st min.
The Bicester backs were struggling on little or poor possession, but when they had the chance were proving quick and elusive and scored a good try - unconverted -at the start of the second half , 19-5
A second front row injury to the Bicester hooker led to uncontested scrums which spoilt the match. Stow adapted well and kicked a penalty. Their passing and running ( and often at the same time) and fitness was now too much for their opponents. Alex Kelly made a good break, offloaded and three passes later TIM HOLMES scored on the left after 52 mins
Bicester were now trying to kick their way out of trouble but on 60 mins George Rodden collected and set his backs running once again and JAMES FORD
touched down for an unconverted try in the RH corner 34-5 and a minute later Louis Chapman tackled and stripped his opponent of the ball, fed Alex Kelly who outpaced or eluded bicester from 55 yds out 41-5
From another uncontested scrum on 70 mins George Rodden broke and supplied a try scoring pass to TIM HOLMES who showed excellent pace to score close to the posts. 48-5 and 3 mins later, back from a long injury lay off JO NOTT fed Tims brother JAMIE HOLMES to score another try on wide left 53-5
Nick Cafearo had scored in the first minute and rounded off a fine personal performance in the 76th minute scoring a good try after a move of at least 10 passes and converted the try himself to bring his kicking tally to 7 out of 10 including 1 penalty and total points scored to 25.
Another fine performance by stow and another 9 tries. Fine running and handling by backs and forwards alike, good scrummaging and fine work at the breakdown makes a team difficult to beat. They must be wary of the day they don`t turn up........