Rugby boss aiming for a top two finish
DIRECTOR of rugby Richard Pepperell admits his sights are firmly fixed on a top two finish after Stratford stormed to a 62-20 victory over Worcester – their fifth straight win in Regional Two Midlands West.
Victory at Ludlow this weekend could see the Black-and-Whites climb to third in the table with a number of the leading sides having to visit Pearcecroft in the new year.
“Five weeks ago we were in tenth and now we’re in fourth,” Pepperell said. “If a couple of results go our way on Saturday, I think we can jump another place and I have my eyes on second place if I’m honest, I think that’s very do-able with the way we are playing.
“Also, we have teams like Cheltenham, Stow, Silhillians and Newent who have to come to Stratford. We have had those hard away games and not lost by many so if we can turn those into wins at home, I’m hopeful we can finish in the top two or three.
“We weren’t far away at the start of the season when some of the losses were within a score with a squad that wasn’t quite up to it. I always felt it would turn around but we needed a few more players to be available a little more often and we’ve added a few more players to the squad.”
He admitted that while the scoreline looked one-sided following Saturday’s match, Stratford were made to work hard for their bonus try victory.
“It was a funny old game because after 50 minutes, the score was 20-13 so we scored around 40 points in the last half-hour of the match – it took us a while to break them down,” Pepperell added. “At that point I didn’t think they were going to go away and that they were going to stick with us.
“They had the better of the first 20 minutes when we gave them two penalties and they kicked six points so we hung in there before scoring a breakaway and a couple of other nice tries to give ourselves a decent lead at half-time. But then in the last 20 minutes we had completely broken them and it was a bit of a procession. It took us a while to crack the nut.
“We had a really high-quality bench, so we put subs on after 30 minutes, at half-time and then again midway through the second half to try and keep the energy levels up and I think that by the end that really told. Only Tom Stanley from the pack played 80 minutes. Having a quality bench at this level really makes a difference.
“At the start of the season, we didn’t have that standard but now we have 18 players who are flying and that has a knock-on effect to the second team because they have players who are very much first team standard in their side and on Saturday they beat Alcester by 65-5. It was a very good day all round.”
His side’s 62-point haul – with fly-half Dan Whitby kicking more than half of them – means they are now the leading scorers in the division.
“Dan kicked ten from ten and scored two tries so he had a good game with 32 points and was man of the match,” Pepperell added.
“He wasn’t our kicker when we were losing games and we were leaving a lot of points behind. So that has been another big change for us, it keeps the scoreboard ticking over and sends a message to the opposition that they can’t be poorly disciplined and that we can kick from anywhere across the field.”
Stratford have been hit by an injury ahead of their trip to Ludlow and a number of players will also be unavailable for the Shropshire hike.
The rugby chief added: “We have a long away trip this weekend and we have an injury and three unavailable from Saturday’s squad.
“Michael Dawes has been playing loose head and hooker for us and has been in a really rich vein of form but he dislocated his knee cap on Saturday so we won’t see him until the new year.”
See this week’s Herald for a match report and pictures from the Worcester game.
