With manicured pitches, smart green and white spectators hand rails, a pitch side refreshment caravan and club officials parading in their blazers adorned by their club colours. The pitch side talk from the Bishop’s Stortford Vice Presidents who spilled out from their pre-match lunch was of how close the previous London League 1 matches between the two sides had been, and the odds were firmly backing a repeat outcome. By the end of the match, those same Vice Presidents wished the day had been at the races, as Shelford showed their opponents a clean pair of heels as befitting a team, who on the day, were a class apart. The early passages of play during the first twenty minutes of the match gave no clear indications of who would prevail, with Shelford’s Tom Dann giving his side a slight advantage as a result of two penalty kicks to one from their opponents.

With the Shelford forwards content to move the ball forward from rolling mauls until field position could be secured, there were limited opportunities for their back line to show their paces. When those opportunities arose there was clear evidence that points would no doubt eventually follow and after twenty five minutes of play Scott Jackowski, playing on the right wing, took the chance with a well timed powerful run, to score a converted try after space was created by deft handling from Richard Davies. Shelford continued with their pattern of forward drives which would have seen them add to their points tally had it not been for a number of unforced errors and the sin binning of Edward Mills. This allowed Bishop’s Stortford to take the game to Shelford, but resolute defensive play kept the score board unaltered at 3 points to 13 points when the match official finely signalled an end to the first half. Within minutes of the start of the second half, it was apparent that the Shelford game plan had changed.

Gone was the close driving in the form of rolling mauls. Instead, the ball was moved away from contact situations with players supporting the ball carrier from either side and then in turn taking the ball forward in hand. If play broke down, the ball was swiftly moved to either Tom Dann or Chris Glynn, who found touch within their opponents twenty two metre line where the Shelford lineout spoiled Bishop’s Stortford’s possession thereby regaining put in at the resulting scrum. The effect of this tactical switch saw Shelford blitz their opponents who had no answer to the powerful ball off loading. First of all, Aki Lea burst through for a converted try. Then, during a twenty five minute period, Alex Birkby was on hand to show how sharp and determined his game is, by crossing for four tries, all taken at speed with an eye for the right angle of run and the conviction to make the line.

Tom Dann added further points by converting four of the tries and a penalty kick. The skills being displayed by all of the Shelford players, backs and forward alike were of a standard that Bishop’s Stortford were unable to match on the day. This was exemplified with Shelford’s final try on the stoke of full time. From within their own twenty two metre line, Chris Glynn put up a kick that turned defence into attack close to the left hand touch line on half way. Charlie Worthington, who performed well on his first team debut, gathered and held the ball before passing to Dominic Jones. With half of the pitch to cover and only the touch line for company, the Shelford centre caught, on the full, his forward kick over the first line covering defence and then out paced the remaining Bishop Stortford players to score under the posts. The successful conversion kick was the last play of the second half and with the score line standing at 3 points to 54 points, Sam Tovo, the Shelford Player/Coach, saw his side complete the first half of his pre-match requested double and move into fourth place in London League 1. 

The odds on a close score line at the return match at the Davey Field on the 19^th December have now more than likely lengthen. Shelford appear to have found their stride and move forward at pace and with renewed confidence to meet any opposition.