Stowmarket 0 EUCRFC 17

Jan 12 at 6:57 PM

The Toffee reporter made a come back after a long time away with writers cramp this is what he witnessed.

The coach pulled away from EUCRFC car park after a short delay as a player was on 'Caribbean' time.

Rather quiet on the trip up to Stowmarket, was the squad concentrating or had the pre game bacon rolls taken it's toll

on these well tuned athletes?

Pre game chat in the home clubhouse told us that they had some returning players from the previous home game.

KO at 2pm and the heavens opened with an icy cold rain which hampered both teams who looked keen to run with the

the ball but the wet weather and already muddy pitch turned the first half into to a 'me to you' slip and slide game.

To Stowmarket's credit they pushed the Clapton defence to breaking point but the away team who have the best

defence record so far this season held out and Clapton went into the lead with a fine kick converted for 3 points by

One of the Knightley, clan not sure if he has Barry's speed or his Dad's brain but the lad can kick a ball.

No change to the score line at the break, although Stow opted to run a penalty under the post only again to be snubbed out

strong defence.

The 2nd half saw the sun appear if only for a few minutes then the rain appeared again. Clapton had the advantage

of the slope and started to apply pressure on the home team but Stow showed great spirit and did not break.

After 15 mins cow shed came on to the wing and a clearance kick was retrieved by the Club 15 who broke a

tackle and slipped the ball to the new winger, who went outside his opposite number and slid over for a converted score

putting Clapton 10 points in front.

With about 15 minutes remaining the Club 8 scooped the ball up and slid over for another converted try with the score line now 17 points up. Chasing the bonus point, Club went over again only to be denied for a little bit of hand bags, a scrum was awarded to club, ball retrieved and put into touch, thus ends the game.

The lads knew that they had been in an energy sapping game with brave defence and dogged hard work but a win it was and away with 4 points to go back to the top of the table on points difference.

The trip back home was a quiet affair, leaving all to reflect on the win.

Thank you to the Club supporters your support is always welcomed.