MUCH Ado About Nothing sums up this latest reversal for Old Eds as they continued to falter in another episode of A Winter’s Tale as A Comedy of Errors unfolded in the sunshine at Stratford. Eds had travelled hoping this West Midlands 1 league encounter might result in All’s Well That Ends Well but as they tumbled to another defeat The Tempest of relegation gathers about them. Makeshift Eds, missing key players in vital areas, with others slotting into unfamiliar roles, were truly left in the wings by a side they had beaten earlier in the season at Weddington. Shakespeare himself would have been hard pushed to find anything to inspire his quill from this Eds’ performance as defeat left them in 11th place in a 14-club table. As yet it is not known whether two or three sides will be relegated. Leamington and Banbury are certain to go but Eds need to start winning if they are not potential candidates. With referee Claire Hodnett determined to show her mastery of the laws, and a willingness to impose them at every opportunity, the game had little prospect of continuity. And so to the play. After a succession of interruptions from her shrill blast - mainly for Eds’ loose-play indiscretions - Stratford went ahead on 13 minutes with a soft try that should have been stopped. Two minutes later Stuart Holes, a back-row man playing in the centre, made a searing break and handed on to Carl Hutchings, a winger also playing in the centre, and he dived over to level the scores. Scrum-half Tom Short, back after a long injury break, missed the conversion. Stratford were in charge territorially and on 25 minutes Eds’ prop Adam Wilson succumbed to an earlier injury and Jon Budgen took his place. Two minutes later Eds were 12-5 adrift after Stratford piled over for a converted try. On the half-hour they were 15-5 up with a simple penalty from in front of the posts. Four minutes later Eds’ full-back Matt Steele conceded a five-yard scrum and Stratford scrambled over for another converted try - 22-5. Two minutes of normal time remained when Holes picked up a loose ball and sped away to score under the posts for Short to convert and make it 22-12. Five minutes of the second half had elapsed when Stratford scored again. This time some hesitant defence let them through for an unconverted try and on 10 minutes they put the game beyond recall for Eds - the conversion made it 34-12. Eds were failing to make use of tactical kicking with the sun in Stratford’s eyes. However, on 13 minutes Hutchings scored his second try from a diagonal run that he eventually straightened out and Eds had a chance at 34-17. Steele made way for Tim Whitehouse and from this point the game deteriorated from high Shakespearian drama into low Whitehall farce as Stratford lost a succession of forwards for infringements on their own line and saw three men shown a yellow card. This week Eds are at home to Sutton Coldfield, second in the table with just one loss this campaign. Will players’ spouses be The Merry Wives of Weddington? We shall see. | 
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