However the young Stockport side were no match for the well drilled, strong running and more experienced Ionians side. The final score was 42-15 to Ionians and would have been more if their kicker had managed more than 2 conversions. There was some encouragement for Stockport with penetrating runs by Dan Eccles, Max Procter and Tom Oban and some determined defence but failure to exploit promising positions and some ineffective clearance kicking meant Ionians were always on top, despite having a player sent off at the end of the first half.
There was an exchange of penalties before a poor pass allowed Ionians to gain possession and score wide out on the right. Stockport’s young centre Sam James was injured in a late tackle and had to go off, replaced by John Sergent on 20 minutes. Ionians attacked after collecting a poor clearance kick, they kept the ball alive with good offloads and scored a converted try. Stockport then had a good period of pressure, winning two penalties and seeking to drive over from the line outs but a knock on allowed Ionians to clear. Another poor clearance by Stockport gave Ionians the chance to attack and score again on 35 minutes. They quickly scored again before Stockport were awarded a penalty try as Sergent hacked on and looked set to score but was tripped by an Ionian defender who was sent off. Alex Zavallis-Roebuck converted to make it 10-25 at half time.
Despite being a man down, Ionians scored a try after 2 minutes of the second half before Stockport prop , James Watson latched onto a loose ball at a 5m lineout and went over for the try to make it 15-30. Despite some good breaks by Dan Eccles, supported by his back row colleagues, and a great run into the Ionians half by Max Procter, Stockport were unable to maintain any momentum and Ionians looked dangerous every time they had possession, scoring two more tries