Stafford on the march to record back-to-back wins

Following on from their triumph at Newcastle on the opening day, the County Ground hosts turned on the style in front of a large crowd and were 58-24 winners.

A Stafford penalty saw Christian Stelian put the first points of the game on the board. Sam Langley soon went over for a try, converted by Stelian.

Salts responded with some composed rugby which eventually earned a well-worked try. But Stafford got back into a comfortable groove and Tom Kirby crossed for his opening try of 2022/23.

A quick turnover resulted in a fine try. Quade Boal crashed and danced through most of the opposition before a final pass to Stelian, who took the try which he then converted. There was a pause in the action as an unfortunate collision caused a Salts player to be sidelined. Taking full advantage from the restart, Kevin Dan-Der-Leest turned the visitors inside out and a final pass to Stu Lewis claimed the try bonus point.

A try towards the end of the half for the away side saw Stafford lead 27-10 at the break. Upon the restart, Alex MacDonald crashed over for a Stafford try – again converted by Stelian.

Gaz O’Connor muscled his way through for their sixth try, with Stellian adding the extras before an unconverted try of his own.

Tom Kirby was the next to break through, shrugging off a series of challenges and releasing Lewis for his second try of the afternoon. The impressive Stelian would be in the thick of the action once more as he crossed for his third try, which he converted. A couple of Salts tries either side of that saw them secure the losing bonus point.

Stafford are sitting pretty in Midlands One West (North) having picked up maximum points so far.

At the other end of the spectrum, though, Stourbridge Lions sit bottom of the table at this early stage. A 39-16 defeat at Newcastle made it back-to-back losses.

Up in National Two West, Stourbridge also made it successive defeats as they were downed 54-25 by Loughborough Students. Dudley Kingswinford were victorious in Regional One Midlands as they beat Lichfield 38-15.

Walsall fell to their first home defeat for thirteen matches, being downed 32-19 by Ludlow.

The Regional Two West Midlands clash saw Walsall skipper George Perkins grab two tries in the second half – Will Hennessey adding a conversion – to threaten an unlikely victory before Ludlow made sure of the triumph late on.

Also in the division, Old Halesonians lost 44-19 at home to Worcester while Wolverhampton beat Evesham 32-20. In Midlands One West (South), Kidderminster won 33-20 against Bromsgrove Seconds.

Handsworth won a tense affair against Newport Seconds in Midlands Two West (North) as they prevailed 33-31. Burntwood triumphed 30-12 against Aldridge.

Willenhall, Cannock and Rugeley were all handed walkovers in Midlands Three West (North) while Eccleshall beat Wednesbury 15-10.

In Midlands Four West (North), Stone ran out 36-12 victors at Essington. St Leonards beat Burton Thirds 32-14. Stourport were beaten 25-17 by Keresley in Midlands Four West (South).