Rare away win delights Stone

The 16-5 victory at Wath Upon Dearne also gave the Copley men a double against their South Yorkshire hosts.

Stone declared himself “very, very happy” with his side’s showing, which followed a good performance at Moortown a fortnight earlier.

“Because of the weather we have had to train in the gym in the past few weeks.

“All we have worked on there was put into practice in this game,” he said.

Rishworthians always had the edge and though they won little possession in the first quarter their defence was so solid that the home side never looked like breaking through.

They did have the first real opportunity, right wing Rhys Town gathering a kick from stand-off Josh Kelly and crossing the line, only to be called back for an offence on his opposite number.

The visitors comfortably held off the home side and a penalty kick took them to a lineout on the home 22.

Lock Harry Collett, who had dominated the lineout with captain Fraser Swarbrooke, gained possession and his forwards gathered round him and drove the ball to the line.

Scrum half Gary Morris joined in and touched down as the drive crossed the line.

From the restart Rishworthians were on the attack again, Swarbrooke and No 8 James Clarke linking well to take the play into the home half and gain a penalty, which Kelly kicked to make it 8–0 at half-time.

The home side put Rishworthians under pressure from the start of the second half, but the visitors continued to defend well, repulsing two catch and drive attempts.

From a third attempt the ball was shipped out wide and the fullback, coming in on the burst, found the gap and scored in the corner.

Town nearly got in almost immediately after the restart, but it left Rishworthians camped in the home 22.

They won a scrum 10 yards from the home line and Morris quickly fed the ball to centre Taniela Bakoso, who came through on an unstoppable burst to smash through three tacklers and score in the corner.

Rishworthians were now in charge and great play by replacement flanker Gerard Rollings and hooker Jack Smart gave Kelly the opportunity to put in a kick and teenage winger Sam Nunn was unlucky not to get the touchdown.

The visitors maintained the pressure and it eventually led to a penalty. Kelly stretched the lead with a fine kick.

In the final minutes Wath threw everything at Rishworthians but the defence never looked like cracking and they held on to gain the double, having beaten their opponents 17-10 at Copley in September.