Under 14

Stafford 17 - Sandbach 31 Sun 30 January 2000 This originally unscheduled fixture saw Sandbach travel a few junctions down the M6 to Stafford. Stafford were not at full strength due to County commitments but Sandbach were not in the mood to be generous in view of their recent poor run of results. Sustained first half pressure from the Sandbach forwards resulted in five first half tries, three of which were converted, to see Sandbach to a 31-0 lead at half time. The first try came from scrum half Tom Hodgkinson who seeing an opening from ten metres snaked his way to the try line with a mazy run. Andy Rollings converted. The second try came from right wing Andy Rollings who finished off a fine attacking move involving first an attack on the left by Matt Walton and Mike Huss which was followed up by the forwards to release the reformed Sandbach line to the right. The difficult angle and strong wind proved too much for kicker Chris Greenhalgh and the try went unconverted. The third try from Jason Ashwin came from a defensive scrummage on Sandbach's own five metre line. Quick ball from stand off Chris Greenhalgh found centre Ashwin who broke the Stafford line and sprinted the entire length of the field to score under the posts. Rollings duly converted. The fourth and fifth tries were scored by second rows Dan Faulkner & Neil Wagstaff respectively. Wagstaff's being his first try in Sandbach colours. His pleasure at scoring was matched only by that of all his team mates who to a man were pleased to see this gentle giant on the score sheet for the first time. Both tries came from typically good second row forward play close to the opposition try line. Greenhalgh was unable to convert Faulkner's try but Rollings converted Wagstaff's. In the second half Stafford made a number of personnel changes and with the slope advantage and wind at their backs came back strongly. They managed to breach the Sandbach defence on three occasions but time was against them. Final score Stafford 17 - Sandbach 31 Dan Faulkner at the front of the line. Sandbach - Gooch, Henry, Lawrence, Faulkner, Wagstaff, Kiernan, Caen, Graveney (Stubbs), Hodgkinson, Greenhalgh, Ashwin, Rollings, Huss, Eyers, McCracken (Walton).