Both teams had remembered to put their clocks forward on Saturday and all the players arrived to a sunny Shelford pitch in good time for the match. From the kick off it was immediately the tough physical match expected and with the fight fairly even Shelford were the first team to make it over the try line. However, despite their preparation Shelford seemed to fall back on old habits, care of the pass was abandoned and the visitors looked the better team. Stoneygate dominated the scrums as expected while Shelford didn’t use their width and depth and instead started to give away penalties. By half time the tables had turned and Stoneygate led 5:10.

As the second half started, the team that Shelford had been for most of the season did reappear, albeit intermittently, and their repeated barrage of the Stoneygate try line eventually saw skipper Jen Worth level the score. But the home team were tiring in the sun and soon avoidable mistakes saw them going backwards. At the end of the match Stoneygate capitalised on Shelford’s poor game and put another 5 points on the scoreboard. With 7 minutes to go Shelford rallied, but ultimately failed to rescue the match; the final score was 10:15.

Forward of the match: Michelle Crolla

Back of the match: Jen Worth