Basingstoke 18 pts v Bracknell 12 pts Home Sept 9th at Pack Lane

'Stoke began this years league campaign, one in which many things have been promised, with a tough game against the newly relegated Bracknell. The game started promisingly with the first five minutes being played in the Bracknell 22, until, like so often before, a good chance went squandering as the ball was dropped. 'Stoke however continued to pile on the pressure and earned themselves a scrum on the Bracknell ten metre line, from the base of which the true speed of the 'Stoke back three was clear for all to see as first Rogers and then Lambert beat their men through sheer pace, allowing Lambert to set up an easy conversion for Rogers under the posts. Rogers made the kick and after 6 minutes the score was 7-0. 'Stoke soon extended their lead through a Rogers penalty on 10 minutes to take the score to 10-0. On fifteen minutes however 'Stoke showed signs of last years dilemmas when numerous missed tackles allowed Bracknell to within inches of the 'Stoke line. However the dominant 'Stoke forwards proved that they were just that and forced a penalty allowing 'Stoke to clear their lines. On twenty minutes 'Stoke were awarded a penalty on the half way line of which they kicked to touch. From the resulting lineout they were awarded another penalty when Bracknell were seen to be pulling down the 'Stoke jumpers. Again 'Stoke kicked to touch and this time, without opposition infringement, set up a rolling maul from which Appleby went over to open his try count. Rogers missed the conversion and the score remained 15-0. On 30 minutes one of Bracknell's props was sin binned for punching hooker Rowlands. With a man advantage and dominating forwards 'Stoke did very little to punish their opponents. The second half was played in similar fashion as the end of the first with 'Stoke obviously being the better side but unable to play consistently enough to reflect their superiority on the score board.

The second half had potential to be one in which stoke sent a message to all other teams in the league with a big win and a fine performance of free flowing rugby on a nice sunny day. It was however one with few scoring opportunities and a safety first style of rugby often resulted to by English clubs in the forward dominated modern game. The few scoring opportunities came on 50 minutes when Rogers added three points to the score board with a penalty. By 70 minutes 'Stoke had fully lost their hold on the game and allowed Bracknell to run in two tries, the second of which being converted. The final minutes of the game producing arguably the most drama of the game when first Rogers hit the post with a penalty and then Shane Murphy was sin binned for the second week running. The game started with Stoke in complete control but from the platform that they set up Stoke could not fully deliver the result needed. Childs had a good 60 minutes playing at his accustomed number 8 whilst Rogers deservedly was voted man of the match.

After the match Dixons' thoughts summed up the afternoon by saying "It is always nice to win your opening league game and collect the two points. The first 30 minutes were excellent but the disruption of going to uncontested scrums at the end of the first half seemed to affect us and our style of play. We took our foot off the gas in the second half again showing the need to concentrate for the full 80 minutes."

Team: O. Rogers, D. Lambert, S. Buckland, M. Lucas, G. Jones, M. Rutherford (G. Murdoch), D. Lillywhite, N. Young (S. Lovegrove), A. Rowlands, S. Murphy, R. Stirling, A. Hopkins, T. Northcote (J. Dixon), S. Appleby, Caan. Childs.

Scorers: D Lambert 1T,S Appleby 1T,O Rogers 1C,2P