Stop-start but Stour whistle a happy tune

STOURBRIDGE celebrated a hard-fought victory over their battling East Midlands visitors with director of rugby Neil Mitchell praising the defensive efforts of his players.

But he was disappointed not to secure the bonus point to bolster their promotion hopes going into next week’s trip to fellow high-flyers Sedgley Park.

“The whistle ruined the game,” he said.

“Every couple of minutes, it went, which stopped the game from flowing.

“It was a pity because Leicester are a good attacking side.

“We got four points but the bonus point eluded us because the game wasn’t allowed to flow.

“On this pitch, you want to try to get a bonus point from games.

“I thought the defence won it for us.

“There were two periods when they were pressing and we didn’t let them through and we snuffed them out.”

Two early penalties from Chris Scott handed Stourbridge an early sixpoint advantage before a yellow card for centre Joe Heatley allowed Leicester a way back.

Only an excellent saving tackle from Josh Trinham denied Alex Wilcockson.

But, with Heatley back on the field, it was Stourbridge who bagged the opening try just before half-time when skipper Sam Pailor picked up from the back of a scrum and powered over the line.

Lions winger James Wise finally chalked up his side’s first points 15 minutes into the second half with a try in the corner but two yellows for the visitors hampered their chances.

Replacement scrumhalf Tom Aviss was first to see yellow on the hour – flanker Drew Rudkin was binned in the final stages – and it was when Lions were down to 14 men that the home side wrapped up the win.

Llyr Griffiths went over following a catch and drive move in the corner.

And this was followed five minutes later by a Dan Rundle effort following Heatley’s initial break.

Lions finally went over for a try with the final move of the game, replacement hooker Reece Harris touching down and Jon Boden kicking the extras.

Leicester head coach Andy Key said: “I thought we forced things a little bit today and could have done with a bit more composure at times.

“I’ve only been back three or four weeks but there has been a definite change in attitude from the players.

“This was always going to be tough playing Stourbridge on their own patch but we wanted to get back to feeling good about ourselves.

“The character was there, as was a never-saydie attitude.

“There were a lot of positives.”