Won 26-10

Date: 26th September

Location: Fortress Niagara

It was in beautiful sun and with the Police hovering above that Oaks played their first home game at Niagara. Early exchanges saw Oaks threatening and stealing turnover ball through the forwards while backs ran dizzying lines to gain ground. Yard after yard the pack battered up the pitch, making a fine platform for Ward to whip a pass out quickly to Al Worsley who danced and juggled his way through the line to score the first try under the posts. Aaron Brown slotted the conversion through the uprights and into the river to give Oaks a 7 point early lead. The first half rumbled on with the Oaks pack using their ability to drive low at the scrum to make the Stocksbridge pack go backwards. It was only an error in judgement that allowed Stocksbridge No. 13 to intercept the pass to score a breakaway try.
After the subsequent conversion Oaks came back at Stocksbridge through French protégé Anael brunet early in the second half. Brown failed to take the extra points before Oaks gave away a couple of inexcusable penalties in their own half allowing Stocksbridge to come back to a 10-12 deficit. After various changes Oaks got back on the front foot with coach Spolander, Chairman Grace and scrum-half Hoggins shoring up the pack as Tom Ward limped off after playing 60 minutes with a chipped hip. The 8 drove up the pitch, Pogson leading from the front row before one try was called back for a knock on leaving Bob Mudd’s arm outstretched on the try line. Oaks persistence paid off though with Simon eventually crossing the line to further the Oaks lead. Aaron Brown exorcised his daemons slotting the conversion from the same spot as he had missed from earlier in the game. Oaks were now in control of the game and were allowing their backs time to run lines up the field with excellent support from the forwards. Chairman Grace was even seen to go on a charge up the wing before setting up the platform for the next attack. Eventually it fell to the Gallic wizard Anael Brunet to close the scoring with another try, this time under the posts. Aaron Brown followed up with the conversion to seal the final scoreline 26-10 to Oaks.  

Man of the Match - Anael Brunet
D.o.D - Damien Pope ( for making the team turn up at 1pm for a 3pm kick off, stating it was a 2pm kick off)

Orthopaedic out-patient of the match – Tom Ward