This is at a time during which Head Coach Tim Burgon was hoping to mold his relatively young side into an effective rugby force. Saturday’s visit by Yorkshire side Otley had a lot of the elements from the previous week away at Caldy. It turned out to be yet another game of two halves. The visitors had Stockport under pressure from the first whistle and within 6 minutes were ahead by a penalty followed by a well taken try through the centre.

The game then settled down with Stockport surviving on minimal possession and defending with determination and the score board was motionless for next 27 minutes as the game was stuck in a midfield war of attrition. The home side then mounted virtually their first meaningful attack right to the Otley line. When the ball was released to the backs, fly half Alex Zavier-Roebuck probed the defensive line and then neatly off loaded to centre Jamie Anthony who raced through a gap to score. With the conversion the score was 7-10.

With 7 minutes scheduled until half time it was great disappointment to the home supporters that it still left Otley time to score two converted tries before the break for a 7-24 lead. Following the Stockport try Otley re-applied the pressure and scored first from an exquisite chip kick over the defenders heads and then in 6th minute of injury time then drove over the Stockport line from a line out.
Even with Stockport reputation for ‘coming good in the 2nd half’ it looked a tall order for them to get anything out of the game. It didn’t look any better following a yellow card to No.8 Dan Eccles and yet another converted drive over try within 6 minutes of the restart. 7-31.
Stockport however started to mount their come back. Back row Nick Smith scored straight away when Stockport showed they were also effective from the catch and drive and Alex Z-Roebuck added the extras from a long distance. 14-31. Then 5 minutes later came a try of the highest quality. Jamie Anthony penetrated the Otley and passed to Alistair Green and as he got close to the line, one more off load saw fellow back row Kieran Hibbs score under the posts. 21-31.

Back came Otley and their driving try 8 minutes later was a crushing blow 21-36. Stockport knew that a 4th try would bring them at least one bonus point and it was created and scored by Stockport’s man of the match, Alex Zavalis-Roebuck. The diminutive Cypriot International No.10 had been the creator of most of the positives Stockport had shown and it was fitting that he scored a try by finding the narrowest of defensive gaps near the Otley. He completed his 15 point contribution with the conversion. 28-36.

Any chances of a second bonus point seemed to be slipping away when Otley kicked a penalty with 7 minutes remaining for a 28-39 lead. Stockport’s pack then laid siege to the visitors line as they tried everything to get a last score. The pressure lead to the Otley prop, and their man of match, Toby Williams being sin-binned. With the last play of the game the ball was moved wide to the left and Jamie Anthony squeezed in at the corner for a final score of 33-39 and 2 more bonus points for Stockport.