STOURBRIDGE Lions stormed back to winning ways at home against bottom club Stafford.

After three consecutive losses, they claimed a comprehensive 30-12 bonus point victory to cement their mid-table position in Midlands 2 West North.

The game opened with the Lions, and especially the pack, heeding coach Jon Tibbetts’ pre-match call for more fire and dynamism upfront. Early inroads into the Stafford half saw Joe Loverock’s powerful run down the right rewarded with an unconverted try in the corner after three minutes.

Surprisingly though Stafford hit back quickly when a speculative kick to the edge of the Lions’ 22 caused defensive hesitancy and a kind bounce back saw Stafford ground under the posts for a converted try.

Sam Robinson, already showing great control at 10, began a series of pressure phases with some fine kicks that pushed Stafford back for the next 20 mins.

The pressure resulted in a fine grubber through by Robinson on 25 minutes from just inside the visiting 22. The ball was pounced on by young winger Josh Trinham on the left for his first ever Lions try.

On 30 minutes, an almost identical kick by Robinson led to full back Duncan Chance touching down on the left. Both tries were unconverted, leaving the Lions 15-7 up.

By now the Lions pack was dominant in both scrum and lineout, a measure of their dominance being three scrums taken against the head and four lineouts won on Stafford’s throw, where captain Stuart Doolittle and lock Simon Crouch disrupted much of the Stafford ball.

More significant was the half time penalty count, which was a vast improvement on the previous week at Shrewsbury.

The half ended with a failed penalty attempt by Stafford.

The second period saw Stafford responding with a much improved tightening of scrum and lineout.

Despite this the Lions extended their lead with a fine try down the right, engineered by a fine run and kick by scrum half Ben Trinham and great speed and tenacity from right wing Will Fallows to beat the cover and touch down. A fine conversion from Trinham looked to have given a match-winning lead of 22-7.

Unfortunately, a lack of focus from the Lions and fine pressure from Stafford saw them back in contention within five minutes, a try under the posts giving them some hope.

The rest of the game was largely played in midfield or the Stafford half, with a Trinham penalty restoring some of the advantage.

Finally, a fine move from just outside the home 22 resulted in Josh Trinham cutting inside to the Stafford 22 and releasing Chance for his second try with a fine reverse pass.

The victory could add some confidence in the young Lions squad ahead of this weekend's tough game at home against rivals Wolverhampton.