Stafford hit top form to stun Longton

After opening their league campaign with a hard-fought win at Leek, Stafford made it a maximum 10 points from 10 by running in 44 unanswered points at home to Longton.

“We are delighted with the start to the season,” said director of rugby Andy Lewis.

“We won a really hard battle against a Leek side who I expect to be in the top four, followed that up with a win in the cup and then had an exceptional result on Saturday, which I believe left Longton a little shellshocked.”

Stafford, who strengthened their ranks in the summer, will be looking to make it three from three in the league when they travel to Moseley Oak on Saturday.

Flanker Mike Besnon was the star of the show for Walsall in their convincing victory over visiting Crewe & Nantwich.

The Delves Road outfit ran in eight tries during easily their best performance of the season to date with Benson bagging three of them.

After slipping 11-0 behind, Walsall took charge and ran in five tries before half-time through Benson, Tom Aston, Rory Newall, Zak Edwards and Cheval Taylor, with Roger Weston adding two conversions.

The second half saw Benson go on to complete his hat-trick with George Perkins also touching down while Weston slotted over another two conversions.

Burntwood came unstuck 53-21 at home to table-topping Camp Hill.

Eccleshall lead the way in Midlands 3 West (North) following a 32-11 triumph at Cleobury.

Wednesbury lost 22-6 at home to Edwardians while Willenhall went down 26-18 to Old Salts.