Clevedon 12 pts v Basingstoke 41 pts Away Sept 30th 2006.

Report by courtesy of Basingstoke Gazette.

BASINGSTOKE got back to winning ways with a top performance where confidence visibly returned to Jim Dixon’s side, writes Graeme Hamlett.

"The boys have been fired up all week. They knew we had to produce today," said Dixon, the club’s director of rugby afterwards. "The boys were positive and confident we would do it and beat Clevedon, as well as prove a few people who have been critical recently wrong." He added: "We’ve had a lot of injuries and have been missing important players for the first few games, so once we got those boys back, we were always going to improve. The good thing is we know we can still and will get a lot better." After two disappointing defeats, to Chippenham and Cleve, in successive matches, ’Stoke knew they needed to make amends on Saturday and get their South-West One campaign back on track. Strengthened by the return of Simon Buckland and Dave Lambert to the backs division, where Myles Rutherford was also switched to his preferred inside centre berth, Dixon made nine changes, personnel wise and positionally, to the side that lost to Cleve. And as the team focused on returning to the high standards they set themselves, Dixon and the ’Stoke supporters were rewarded with a victory. The first-half was a hard-going affair, with a large number of penalties conceded, yet it remained pointless and tight as a spectacle until the yellow-card of the Clevedon no 8 on 19 minutes. ’Stoke’s pack were not about to waste the chance to take advantage and, playing against the wind, put a lot of hard work in to gain territory and advance. More hard graft from the pack helped earn an 8-0 interval lead, this came courtesy of Caan Childs’ classic no 8 pushover try on 26 minutes and was added to on 40 minutes by Mike Goodall’s penalty.

Then came a key 10-minute spell. Clevedon came out of the blocks for the second half with vigour and entrenched themselves inside the ’Stoke 22. Mindful of the high penalty count and ill-discipline that had blighted their defence in previous matches, Dixon issued his players with a new command. "We’ve had five, six guys piling in and leaving huge gaps defensively. So I told the boys not to contest the breakdown as fully as we have been, to set out their line defensively and wait for the opposition to make mistakes," he revealed. It was strange to see a patient, waiting defensive game applied, but it was certainly highly effective in keeping Clevedon out and securing the eventual turnover. And once they had survived the home pressure, implemented their coach’s instructions and seen how well it worked, collectively ’Stoke mentally clicked, as was duly reflected in the quality of their subsequent rugby. Hooker Andrew Rowlands scored a fine try, converted by debutant full-back Mike Goodall, whose kicking was of the highest quality, particularly as many of his conversions were into a tough cross-wind. A loose pass and mistake by outside centre Buckland gave his opposing number a 40m run in to make it 5-15 on 59 minutes but from then on, ’Stoke found another gear, running in three tries inside a 10-minute spell. Tom Northcote, playing blindside flanker, scored the first of those on 63 minutes before the pick of the trio from Rutherford three minutes later. Captain Ross Stirling, who again led by example with his powerful running, support play and line-out takes, secured a line-out 25 metres out to set ’Stoke on their way to another attack. Recalled scrum-half Darren Lillywhite fed Matt Lucas, and Rutherford, running at real pace to collect the pass from the fly-half, attacked the Clevedon backs, bore his way through and touched down in the left wing. Goodall converted. "Myles proved what a handful he is and they had to put two players on him to try and stop him, he was causing so many problems," said Dixon. "And Mike was excellent. He’s one of those guys who makes kicking look effortless." Winger Dave Lambert then opened his legs to pace down the right-flank to score ’Stoke’s fifth try – again expertly converted by Goodall – to make it 36-5 to ’Stoke. His opposing number reduced arrears with a lengthy burst out wide past a stretched ’Stoke defence and Childs’ ankle tap attempt to finish off a fine Clevedon move. But ’Stoke had the final say when Childs again finished off more good forward work and Rutherford’s incisive run and lay-off to score his second try of the match.

’Stoke: Mike Goodall; Dave Lambert, Simon Buckland, Myles Rutherford, Karl Buttle; Matt Lucas, Darren Lillywhite; Simon Lovegrove, Andrew Rowlands, Phil Perkins (rep Matt Oliver 74 mins), Ross Stirling, Russell Northcote (rep Chris Williams 65 mins), Tom Northcote, Simon Appleby, Caan Childs.