Stourbridge 21, Hull Ionians 42

STOUR made no secret of their desire to throw a spanner in the works and halt top of the table Hull Ionians' relentless drive towards the league title, writes Nick Pullen.

Still smarting from their 50 point defeat at Brantingham Park earlier in the season, Stour were desperate to put the record straight in front of their long suffering home support.

And for the first half, it was clear that Stour meant business as they produced a spirited show which should have yielded a better reward.

But after the break, old failings resurfaced and Stour started running out of steam as Ionians took charge.

It didn't help matters when Ionians were gifted a fourth minute try after outside centre Chris Reeks was presented with a gap, wide enough to have driven the team coach through as he cantered in under the posts for fly half James Ferguson to convert.

Clearly stung, Stour required a response and pegged Ionians back into their own half, where unrelenting pressure was rewarded with a string of penalties.

Caolan Ryan missed his first two shots, but the Moseley loanee fly half then booted over three penalties in quick succession to put Stour 9-7 ahead by the half hour mark.

It should have been more but hooker Dale Garner was called back after crossing the line following a clever line-out ploy.

Hull were also handicapped by the loss of winger Luke Thundercliffe, who was sent to the sin-bin on 16 minutes for deliberate offside.

But once restored to a full compliment, the tide steadily turned and Ionians went ahead just before half time with a pushover try from a five metre scrum, No.8 Alex Torkington applying the finishing touch for Ferguson to convert.

Leading 14-9 at the break, Ionians increased the gap within five minutes of resumption when their Argentinian flanker Socino Santiago wrestled his way over from a spell of sustained pressure, Ferguson duly adding the exdtras.

Stour hit back on 62 minutes when a splendid offload from Stefan Shillingford sucked in the Ionians defence and sent Gary Dipple scampering over for a try which Ryan converted.

Ionians stamped their authority on the game from that point.

Left wing Sam Wilson waltzed through a series of half hearted tackles to secure a fourth and bonus point try on 66 minutes which Ferguson improved.

Then a dreadful error by Stour's Stefan Cooksammy gifted Ionians a five metre scrum instead of a home 22 drop-out after Cooksammy brought the ball back into play before dotting it down.

The outcome was inevitable since Stour had been shoved backwards at every scrummage.

Referee Tom Davis didn't wait long once Stour went into reverse, awarding a penalty try for Ferguson to convert.

Stour's cause was helped when replacement Freddie Brookes was handed a yellow card on 76 minutes.

Ionians kicked the resulting penalty into touch. won the line-out and drove over, Torkington again credited with the score.

The accurate Ferguson completed a full house of conversions, landing all six.

There was, however, one last act of defiance by Stour, when replacement Ashley Oyekan found himself in space down the left flank and outpaced the Ionians cover to sprint over in the corner for a well taken try.

With two games remaining from what has been a dismal season at times, Director of Rugby Neil Mitchell faces a busy summer, to say the least!

Stourbridge: Jarvis; Cooksammy, Shillingford, Barkley, Dipple; Ryan, Handley; George, Garner, Spencer, Hughes, Moore, Mukarati, Uzoigwe, Depper. Replacements: Oyekan, Harper, Brookes, Blackburn, Hurrell.

Hull Ionians: Bateman; Luke Thundercliffe, Reeks, Barker, Wilson; Fergusons, thomas; Laverick, Thomson, Johnson, Makin, Campbell, Santiago, Cowen , Torkington. Replacements: Josh Thundercliffe, Forth, Sanders, Green, Crocket.

Referee: Tom Davis Attendance: 310