Late penalty leaves Greens in basement

A LAST-GASP penalty try denied Wharfedale a much needed-victory as a very relieved Stourbridge side drilled home their party-piece rolling maul 20-metres to the line for James Hearn’s conversion to wrap up a priceless first home success.

The Greens arguably had not done quite enough with the wind in the second half to seal a win that should have been theirs.

But equally, Stourbridge barely earned their hair’s-breadth victory in this basement clash between two unconfident, nervy sides.

The Saxons, with first use of a fierce end-on wind that did much to shape the game, were off to a flying start as fly-half Tom Richardson exploited a defensive error near the line to score with barely a minute gone.

Winger Hearn, on loan from Moseley, kicked the conversion and added an equally sure-footed fifth-minute penalty to open up an early 10-point lead.

With much of the game a heavyweight physical confrontation between the packs, the Greens, through hard work up front, gradually wrested control. That allowed them, despite the wind, to camp within sight of the home line.

Exemplary, error-free control through the phases brought eventual reward through winger Scott Johnson’s over-lap try.

Though a Hearn penalty put the home side ahead, two tries late in the half secured Wharfedale a deserved, if rather unexpected, 19-13 interval lead.

First Jordan pounced on a neat grubber at the line from Luke Gray and then James Druce converted his own wide-out corner try.

But Wharfedale, for all their continued effort, never matched such territorial dominance down wind after the resumption.

Hearn and Druce exchanged early penalty goals as the contest settled into one of attrition. The Saxons relied heavily on mauling out of deep defence while Wharfedale came perilously close with a fine rolling maul of their own which resulted in a card for home prop Andy Lawrence.

The Saxons’ rear-guard action and increasing control of possession produced its eventual reward as Wharfedale were forced into collapsing the final maul. Yet again a losing bonus point was all the Greens could garner from another contest where possible victory tantalisingly eluded them.