Gloucester Premier

Chelt Saracens...22

Stroud.............. 34

STROUD overcame a 14-point deficit to put the league title beyond doubt and secure promotion to Western Counties North, writes Trevor Hodges.

It was Saracens, needing the win to secure a promotion play-off place, who started the brightest.

With the game being played at a frenetic pace, it was Saracens that broke the deadlock on five minutes with a well-worked try, the conversion hitting the upright before going over.

Before Stroud could get into any sort of rhythm, they fell further behind to another Saracens try on 13 minutes, the conversion awarded although seeming to have drifted wide of the upright in the windy conditions.

The young Stroud side, bolstered by the vocal support of a large contingent of supporters, started to control the game, spinning the ball wide, away from the heavier Saracens pack.

They were rewarded on 17 minutes with the first of three tries for Sam Hester and Peter Sykes adding the conversion.

Saracens surged back at Stroud. On 22 minutes Stroud were unfortunate to fall further behind to a penalty that was reversed on the advice of the touch judge.

Just before the break, Stroud’s Josh Stratton suffered a serious ankle injury that delayed the game for 10 minutes.

From the restart, Stroud started to use the wind to their advantage to pin the opposition in their half, Dan Gordon making a number of deft kicks to the corner.

Saracens, now coming under sustained pressure, started to transgress, both at the breakdown and the off side line – this would ultimately result in the Saracens’ fly half spending 10 minutes in the sin-bin.

From one such penalty, Gordon caught Saracens unaware as he opted to throw a long pass to Sam Leworthy, rather kick to the corner. Leworthy showed great strength in breaking a number of tackles before offloading to Sam Hester to score in the corner, Peter Sykes converting from the touchline.

Stroud took the lead on 54 minutes with an excellent try started and finished by Captain, Harry Foote. Having made a mazy break from within the Stroud half, Foote linked with Leworthy, who broke the first tackle before offloading to Hester.

Straightening his run, Hester popped to the hard working Foote on the run around for the Stroud captain to brush off the attention of three defenders before scoring in the corner.

On 55 minutes Stroud extended their lead with a Sykes penalty following the yellow carding of the Saracens fly-half, the Cheltenham side have been warned after a number of infringements.

Ten minutes later, Hester secured his hat-trick, showing his pace to round the Saracens defence. Stroud put the game beyond doubt and secured the title on 70 minutes after some excellent work between the forwards and the backs, Matt Hunt rounding off the try that started inside the Stroud half.

Saracens crossed the Stroud line on 75 minutes, but with Whitehall beating Berry Hill by a large margin, it will be the Bristol side that will have opportunity to join Stroud in Western Counties North season.

STROUD now look forward to the Stroud Combination Senior cup final against Dursley at Cirencester RFC on Saturday.