Stanley Rangers came out with all guns blazing and won a tough, bruising, but fair encounter with Milford 16 points to 4.

 

Stanley bloodied, and with their pride dented were not in the mood after the soft start they produced last week in the Cup game and looked solid as a rock from the first minute onwards. The game was fast and furious, and played in very wet, windy, and boggy conditions, and even with this, both sides had a superb error rate throughout the match, and deserved a round of applause.

 

The match was a real arm wrestle in the early minutes, but Stanley looked slick in the passing department, and due to the phenomenal work rate of Jonny Holmes and Callum Sampson down the middle, and quick and accurate distribution at dummy half by Ben Cornell gave the halfbacks the time to play.

 

Stanley to a man defended like their lives depended on it and after some periods of sustained pressure Stanley took their turn to attack. The Stanley forwards pushed us over the half way line, and the backs took their turn. In a quick fire move to the left,  Daniel Sowerby threw a face ball across Kieran Holt and hit Luke Smith out wide who ran through a gap to register our first score.

 

The boys continued to dominate in attack, with Milford determined in defence. Stanley built a platform from excellent work by Donnegan, Sampson, and Holmes which led to a move to right with Daniel Sowerby ripping through the defensive line to run 30 metres and offload to Donnegan who supported, who then passed on to the awesome running centre Kieran Holt to score a great team try.

 

The half-time break came with Stanley leading 8 points to nil, and unlucky not to have bagged a couple more from some great kicking and running.

 

Milford however came out for the second half with a ferocious and determined attitude, and looked the more fresh of the sides in the few minutes after the break. Milford after 2 back to back sets on our line ran the ball on the last, and caught out our defence who were expecting a kick and just made it over the line for a fine individual try.  

 

Stanley responded with some dogged running and again led by the forwards Sampson, Donnegan and the tireless Holmes looked good in attack, producing some good moves, run around, and wedges, with the final pass, or play just not coming off. Hardaker took the challenge and from 30 yards out ran as hard as anyone direct at the Milford line, breaking one tackle just to be pulled down inches from the line. However he made a fast play the ball, and the quick thinking hooker Cornell scooted for a great hooker's try. Max Jowitt who had been superb all game converted to bring us 16 to 4 in the lead.

 

The game was a tough and bruising encounter, and at the final whistle all the boys from both sides looked completely drained of energy.

 

Will Hudson for the second week looked fantastic, aggressive, and strong, and its fantastic to have him back. Jowitt at fullback was back to his best, Hardaker is playing his best rugby ever, and in Luke Smith we have found an albeit green, and inexperienced player, a superb outside back with bags of potential.

Jonny Holmes was superb throughout, his work rate was unbelievable, and was awarded a much deserved Coaches Man of the Match. Daniel Sowerby had a fantastic game in defence and attack and produced a vintage performance in both passing, kicking and running, and was awarded the Opposition Man of the Match. Callum Sampson led from the front with a superb work ethic, and showed some real balls when injured to continue on. Kieran as he always does was dynamic, and caused some panic in the Milford attack with his devastating defence, and he still has the mantle of best strike player in attack in my opinion. Eddie Alex, Morse, and Sam all played their part on the wings, with Tom Mac running the right side attack with ease, showing some real touches of class. Ben C was up against a top quality 9 in Colby Wilson who was our choice as Man of the Match, and more than held his own with fantastic distribution, defence and control of the ruck.

The boys travel to Stanningley next week in a game that could go either way against an another superb side from Leeds.