Latest scores/previews - Final day 26th April 2025

The season ended in anticlimax for Stortford, as their quest for a sixth successive win – not surprisingly - proved less motivating than Leicester’s fight against relegation. The home side deservedly won a game, in which any big match nerves they might have felt were considerably eased by an accommodating opposition. Stortford started loosely and were punished with a try after 4 minutes, when a short box kick out of defence was lost and it took only two phases of play for centre, Jamal Hamilton to be set free to score out wide – well-converted by his fly half, Bouchier. The visitors steadied the ship and the scores were level 11 minutes later, after quick ruck ball close to halfway allowed Dec Murphy to spot a gap on the fringe, dart. The scrumhalf darted through and used his pace to round two cover defenders for an excellent solo try, converted by Mike Cooke. The hosts were ahead again 10 minutes later, though. A series of powerful thrusts at the line had been held out by stern Stortford defence inside their 22, but they had no answer to a pinpoint crosskick, which was fielded comfortably by the tall home winger over the head of a retreating defender and touched down unopposed. Bouchier added an excellent conversion. Leicester’s focus seemed to falter briefly 4 minutes later, when simple, quick passing down the Stortford backs was enough to put Chris Smith over in the corner for an unconverted try. Up against it in the scrums and still not firing on all cylinders, though, Stortford conceded a further try all too easily. Passive tackling required too many defenders to stop a couple of aggressive runs, allowing Bouchier easily to find space and dummy his way over for a try, which he was unable to convert. The visitors ended the half under the cosh again, but were spared from conceding further points by a clumsy Leicester knock on.

Stortford started the second period even more slowly than the first and conceded another try within 2 minutes, with Bouchier again given acres of room to cut through and feed Hamilton for his second touchdown – this time under the posts to take his side into a 14 point lead. The visitors struck back 8 minutes later, with Isaac Bell plunging over from the fringes of a try-line ruck from a 5m lineout, but the conversion went wide. Leicester were 14 ahead again after 62 minutes, when more passive tackling from Stortford sucked in defenders, creating an all too easy overlap for their hooker to touch down out wide. Stortford did then manage to exert a rare period of concerted pressure, but the home defence tackled ferociously and were only undone by a clever chip kick from David Hayes inside the opposition 22, which Alex Rayment was able to run onto for a clean try, duly converted by Hayes, with 10 minutes to go. Any thoughts that the many travelling supporters might have cherished of an unlikely Stortford comeback were dashed 8 minutes later, when confusion in their midfield, when in possession inside Leicester’s half saw the ball fall loose behind the support, allowing a couple of home players to hack the ball on for a try out of nothing. Bouchier’s conversion restored the 14 point margin. The visitors did register the final score from a 5metre lineout maul after successive Leicester penalties, with Rayment touching down for his second of the game, but the missed conversion, as time ran out meant that the single, 4-try bonus point was all they had to show for their efforts.