DIRECTOR of Rugby Neil Mitchell says he will be doing all he can to change the "stale environment" at Stourbridge.

Mitchell has highlighted a host of changes at the club after a difficult season saw them end the campaign in 10th place in National League Two North.

The signed off with a 29-28 defeat at home to Harrowgate last Saturday after once more capitulating in the final third of the contest.

Mitchell said: "I think the game summed up our season as a whole.

"There has been a lot of mitigation for the way we have performed at times, not least the amount of injury troubles we have encountered.

"However, that isn't the only issue. It is clear that there is a stale environment now and that it is time for a host of players who need to move on, for their sake as much as the club.

"I know that this needs to be dealt with and I will be making significant changes.

"Our aim is to be challenging for promotion at this level next season."

Mitchell also said that part of his plans to improve Stour will be to forge strong links with his former club Moseley next season.

"We have ripped this club apart from top to bottom while assessing how best to move forwards. We know what changes we can make over the summer," he added.

Against Harrogate, Stour claimed a first half lead but found the visiting defence increasingly difficult to break down before Harrogate claimed a late success.

A Stef Shillingford consolation try at the death wasn’t enough to prevent Stour ruing another game where they failed to defend a lead.

Both sides probed their opponents well-organised defences during the early exchanges, play largely confined to the middle of the park. The visitors conceded a penalty for holding on in the tackle, Gary Dipple declining the kick at goal in favour of a short-range lineout. Sione Tu’ipolotu drove up the middle, pulling in defenders and creating enough of a gap for Nigel Mukarati to blast through and score near the posts.

The game came to life. Harrogate hit straight back, running back a deep infield clearance kick, outside-half Callum Irvine breezing through some poor tackling to put centre James Morland in at the corner. Back came Stour, securing their lineout throw near halfway to set up a set of short drives before fullback Tom Jarvis created a linebreak sprinting on to an offload from flanker Eji Uzoigwe. His pass found winger Nathan Bressington with enough space to round the cover.

Harrogate secured loose ball at the restart but spilt it in possession, Uzoigwe hoofing it deep and Stef Shillingford’s chase pinning the visitors in their 22. They tried to run it out but a spilt pass was seized by second row Ben Hughes who fed replacement scrum-half Toby Handley. He was tackled just short of the line but quick ball was worked to Dipple who put Mukarati in for his second try. A penalty allowed Stour to kick again for the corner but the opportunity was blown with a knock-on at the lineout and Stour went in with a 21-7 lead at the break.

An early second half penalty gifted Irvine a kick at goal but he pushed it wide. Harrogate countered from the dropout, Irvine taking advantage of further shoddy tackling to skip through the defence to link with fullback Lewis Minkin who scored in the corner.

The replacement benches emptied, Stour pressed but were turned over and only an obstruction ruling deep in their 22 prevented another Harrogate try.

Stour attacked again but still couldn’t breach the defences and a turnover found them back in their 22. The ball was ripped in the tackle, Irvine chipped over the defensive line and winger Sam Bottomley gathered to score.

Both sides upped the tempo, Harrogate started to ship penalties and Stour ran a succession of quick taps as the clock ran down, grinding their way ever closer to the visitors’ line but finding no way through. Harrogate secured a turnover and kicked clear, but in the final twist Stour worked lineout ball to midfield where Tu’ipolotu’s run drew the defence out of shape, his offload putting Shillingford clear to score.

However, it proved too little too late for the hosts.