FOLLOWING a woeful performance last week Stourbridge were desperate for a strong showing at home to Chester.

Director of rugby Neil Mitchell questioned how some of his players could consider their previous performances acceptable and for the first 25 minutes of the Chester game, it seemed there was to be no improvement.

However the hosts fought back to set up a thrilling finish against their visitors, who bagged a bonus point inside 30 minutes.

Chester started strongly and after just two minutes crisp passing put Harrison Vare in on the left wing for a try which was converted by Mark Dixon.

Stourbridge were missing key players and looked edgy, they were slower into tackles and made unforced errors.

On 14 minutes George Baxter broke through for a Chester try and six minutes later William Du Rant added another which was converted by Shay Owen.

Baxter added another try on 22 minutes which Owen again converted before he dotted down himself on 25 minutes and again added the extras.

The hosts looked beaten but George Morgan found a way through for a try on 31 minutes and Jack Samuel added another on 36 minutes.

Nick Murphy crashed over for a third Stour try and Chris Scott added the extras on 47 minutes to end the half with momentum belonging to the Midlanders.

The fight back was on with a halftime score of 17-33, which seemed unlikely on the half hour.

Stourbridge continued to attack after the restart, scrum half Joe Heatley made driving runs into Chester territory.

On 51 minutes the speedy Dan Rundle capitalised to run in from the left for a try under the posts which Scott converted.

A late penalty from Scott reduced the gap to five points for the final play but Chester held firm to claim the win with a final score of 27-33.