RUGBY St Andrews overcame a 14-point deficit and a second-half red card to beat Stamford College Old Boys 29-20 and maintain their perfect start to the season.
Tries from Steve Young, Chris Heslop, David Lewis, Will Headley and Ryan Taylor earned Saints a bonus point win at Stamford Welland Academy.
And after claiming an 11th successive victory, Rugby lead the Counties 3 Midlands East (South) table by eight points ahead of Northampton BBOB.
Stamford made a blistering start as Haydn Johns collected a chip ahead and squeezed over in the corner to score the game’s opening try.
And Johns carved through the Saints defence soon after to score his second try with Carl Brierly-Lewis kicking both conversions.
The two early tries sparked Saints into life as the visitors kicked a penalty to touch inside the home 22 and Young mauled his way over the line from 15-metres out with Joe Hudson converting.
And the visitors reduced the deficit further on 26 minutes as Heslop picked an excellent line through the Stamford defence to score only for the conversion attempt to hit the post.
However, Saints completed an impressive first-half turnaround when centre Lewis powered through a gap shortly before the break to put the away side three points ahead at the interval.
Stamford levelled the game early in the second period when Brierley-Lewis kicked a penalty before Saints were denied a bonus point try after Lewis finished under the posts only for the referee to bring play back for a Saints scrum.
However, after Stamford stopped a Saints attack illegally, Headley took a quick tap and ghosted through to score with Hudson converting to restore the away side’s lead.
The game turned soon after as a Saints player saw red for leading into a tackle with a shoulder with another visiting player sent to the sin bin to leave the away side down to 13 players as Brierley-Lewis kicked the resulting penalty.
Despite the numerical disadvantage Saints managed to extend their lead when Taylor chipped the ball over the Stamford defence out wide and won the race to the ball to seal the points.
Rugby are next in action at home to Northampton Mens Own on Saturday, February 3 with kick-off at 2.15pm at the Hillmorton Grounds.
