Cook: Morale still high at Stratford-upon-Avon

SKIPPER Jo Cook says there’s no doubting that the morale within the Stratford-upon-Avon ranks is still high, despite the Black and Whites going down 15-5 at Witney.

Stratford had earmarked the game as a prime opportunity to secure just their second win of the South West One East campaign.

But things did not go Stratford’s way in a game which saw six yellow cards shared between the two teams as well as a red card for Witney centre Matt Clarke following a high tackle.

“It was a very challenging game, mainly because of the referee giving so many penalties which stopped the flow of the game,” said Cook.

“As a result, Witney were able to play the conditions better.

"It was a game we earmarked as a chance to get that second win but unfortunately we fell just short.

“Despite this, there cannot be any faults with our mentality because if we concede a try or a couple of tries, the heads do not drop.

“Since Tom Rance (director of rugby) came back and has got us playing to a new style of rugby, you can see the performances are getting better and better each week and I’m confident we will start seeing the results to go with the performances.

“I’m not saying trying to win a game is a monkey on our back, but it’s getting to the stage in the season where we do have to start converting performances into results.”

Rhys Morgan opened the scoring for Witney with the first try of the game before Charles Powell bundled over to level the scores at 5-5.

A Ted Landray penalty nosed Witney back in front and that was followed by a converted try from Rhys Morgan to give the hosts a 15-5 lead and that was how it stayed.

Stratford have a spare weekend as they return to action on Saturday, 9th February with an important home game against second-bottom Swindon.