The Mathew & Co Senior Bs needed to win our last game against Clifton on Saturday to guarantee a place in the semifinal.
It was a hard fought game up front, with both teams' hands letting them down in the first half. Stratford showed good character in their defence during the first half, holding out a spirited Clifton side who, were dead set on spoiling our semifinal hopes.
Robert Kauika scored our only points of the first half, scoring out wide, but our discipline got slack and it cost us two penalties from in front, to give Clifton the lead at halftime 6-5.
The leaders within the team gave some good advice during the break and a plan was hatched to run them into the ground, as Clifton looked tired. It wasn't long before Ben Phillips was targeted by a Clifton player who was lucky not be sent off for stomping. That sparked the team and from that point saw the Stratford team run rampant over a Clifton side that looked done.
Matty Arnold started the try fest, busting through four tackles to score, Gary Old made multiple line breaks and also scored under the posts. In addition, Kurt (the Hare) Patterson scored three 60 metre tries and sealed the win for us 36-6.
