Broadland needed the victory today in this hard fought Eastern Counties games but, even though they came within one score of overturning the lead the visitors held throughout the afternoon, they were unable to cross the line to give them the valuable points that they needed.

In typical conditions (atrocious) for a January afternoon in Cobholm, both sides dominated for half a game with Stowmarket taking the first, scoring all of their thirteen points, and Broadland the second, scoring their eight.

From the start the away side played the ball around better and seemed to make far less handling errors. For the first quarter of the game any Broadland attack was met with a stiff defense and some hard tackling and, in the slippery conditions, the ball was turned over with remarkable ease.

After twenty minutes Stowmarket put the first points on the board with an try in the right-hand corner with their winger easily outpacing the Broadland defense. A good attempt at the conversion from a difficult angle saw the ball spin away off the upright giving the visitors a five points lead and in command of the game. A further three points from a penalty in front of the posts saw the visitors open up their lead to eight which was followed, after thirty minutes, by another unconverted try.

That second try was the catalyst for a Broadland side that had not played anywhere near their capability and the remaining ten minutes of the first-half gave us an insight into what we were to see in the second: Broadland camped in the opposition twenty two but unable to convert possession into points when they needed it most. After a disallowed pushover try, the first-half finished with the visitors leading by thirteen points but definitely on the back foot.

The second period began as the first ended with Broadland on the attack and once they had clocked up the first points with a try from Stu Murray, more points were sure to follow.

Stowmarket conceded a penalty five minutes later right in front of the posts which Macintosh converted to close the gap to just five points.

Such was the pressure from the home side, the last twenty minutes of the game saw Stowmarket get the ball out of their own twenty-two about four times! Each time the ball was brought straight back down and, once again, it seemed that it was only a matter of time before more points were added. Constant attack was met with constant defense and though their attacking play was good in the first-half, their defense in the second was better: if it hadn't been they wouldn't have won!