Hoppers slip up

It was a similar feeling at full-time – a game that Hoppers could have won had they taken their chances.

Head coach Garth Dew said: “I was proud of the effort today.

“For large periods of the game we were the better team, but once again the first 10 minutes really hurt us.

“Our set-piece was not strong today and we squandered a lot of good opportunities.

“We played with more intensity in the second-half and scored two nice 
tries so I’m gutted we 
couldn’t come away with something.”

Stourbridge had their first try just three minutes into the contest, Chris Easton 
finishing off a simple handling move to touch down out wide after some poor Hoppers tackling.

Chris Scott failed to add the extras.

The hosts had their second score seven minutes later when skipper Ciaran Moore collected the ball from a line-out drive and ran straight through the Hoppers’ defence, with Scott converting.

Hoppers started to play some decent rugby, gaining good field positions 
thanks to the clever kicking 
of Lewis Allen and Jack Harrison.

They should have opened their account when Will Lees broke the gainline with 
only Stourbridge’s full-back to beat.

A simple pass would have put Tom Forster in, but the centre dropped the ball and the chance was gone.

Allen then missed a long-range penalty which summed up Hoppers’ first-half performance.

Moore had his second, and Stourbridge’s third score, when he dotted down from a pick-and-go after 33 minutes. Scott’s kick meant the hosts went into the break 19-0 ahead.

The second half was a different story.

This time it was Hoppers who scored early, after Tom Hurst broke the line and fed Cam Robinson, who duly touched down for his first Preston try.

Hoppers were back in the contest and built up several phases which resulted in a score for Ally Murray, capitalising on a rare Stourbridge error their scrum, but Allen’s conversion drifted wide.

The visitors huffed and puffed in the third quarter but could not breach Stourbridge’s resolute defence.