Portsmouth 27 pts v Basingstoke 5 pts at Portsmouth Jan 5th 2008
Report by courtesy of Basingstoke Gazette.

A disastrous opening, followed by a lack lustre display led to a disappointing defeat at the hands of local rivals Portsmouth in Stoke's opening game of 2008 by 27-5, and in doing so still remain 3rd from bottom in London 1. This was the first of five games where Stoke are to play the two sides below them and the three sides above them in a crucial six week period for Stoke to move up the table so a win was vital. With Portsmouth kicking off in bright sunshine who could of foreseen that the home side would be 17-0 up after 15minutes with 2 tries, a penalty and missing a penalty. It all went wrong from the kick off where Portsmouth regained the ball and made a break in mid field to feed the right wing who was brought down near the line by Buttle. From the scrum the home side crashed up the middle and re-cycled the ball to their left wing Ofuasia who was faced with 2 stoke defenders 10 metres out and 15 in from touch. The winger finished with a try as he stepped in to hold the defence and then out to go over for the score, with the conversion added and a 7-0 lead on 3 minutes. With Stoke struggling to retain possession and giving away too many penalties it was Portsmouth on the attack. The home side missed a penalty on 8 Min's but made amends on 9 when Stoke gave away yet another penalty and the lead now 10-0. Stoke got into the home team's 22 for the first time on 12 minutes but a wayward pass went to ground and the ball lost. This was just one of the errors that were occurring from the Stoke side. On 13 minutes another penalty given away by Stoke on the Portsmouth 10 metre line and again proved costly. The home side took a quick tap penalty and with good support play down the right touch line finishing with the Portsmouth captain scoring and then duly adding the 2 points for a 17-0 lead. Stoke needed to re-group and play a tight game but continued to play a more expansive game that led to errors and combined with some poor decision making played into Portsmouth's hands giving the ball away too often. The first half finished as it started with a Portsmouth score this time from a penalty on 48 minutes for a half time lead of 20-0.

Following the half time team talk Stoke came out and played the right rugby and were the only side in it for the first 10 minutes. With Stoke securing good line out ball the catch and drive worked well and on 2 occasions marched the home side 20 metre back. The second of these ended with the maul being pulled down 5 metre out and only a penalty being given. When this happened moments later, the ref still only gave a penalty when a penalty try and a yellow card could of been the correct option. Eventually a try resulted from the pressure with Buckland going over for the score on 50 minutes, Goodall narrowly missing the conversion. With Stoke now on the scoreboard it was game on for the final 30 minutes for them to get something from the game. However, 2 crucial errors occurred in the next 2 minutes to effectively put the home side back in total ascendancy. Firstly after the re-start a penalty was given away and although the attempt at goal was missed the ball was with Stoke for a 22 drop out. Secondly, the 22 was blocked from going down field and the ball remained inside Stoke's 22. Portsmouth kept the pressure on and turned it into points on 56 minutes with a converted try and a 27-5 lead. Stoke continued to battle away but resolute defence kept them at bay. The catch and drive was still effective but on one occasion it summed up their day when the forwards drove 15 metre and for the clearing kick to go up and backwards and ending up with the Portsmouth's forwards. Into injury time and Stoke 10 metres out from the line and another take by Stirling was brought down and this time the ref ironically finally yellow carded a player but still no penalty try. This was not the result or the performance that was needed but with all the other side's around the bottom half losing it was not as bad as it could of been.

A disappointed Dixon added "You can not start a game like that at any level and expect to get away with it. It was basic errors that caused the early problems and we were then playing catch up. We can't change what happened to-day so we have to move on."

Team: Barton, Goodall, Buckland, Russell, Buttle, Rogers (Lewis), Lillywhite, Young(Capt), Hawea, Oliver (Folan), Stirling, Scott (Williams), Northcote(Rob), Appleby, Cooper.