St Ives 25 pts v Basingstoke 17 pts Away, Nov 25th 2006

Report by courtesy of Basingstoke Gazette.

BATTLING Basingstoke disappointingly spurned a victory that was within their grasp at St Ives, whose penal punishment of visiting mistakes and stout defence helped them wrestle back the success Jim Dixon’s side appeared to be heading for in Cornwall. Given their opening 15 minutes, where, despite playing into a considerable wind, ’Stoke retained possession through many phases of exciting, attacking rugby to go 7-0 up through Jamie Fish’s converted try, it was a source of consternation to ’Stoke’s director of rugby, his players and the supporters who made the long trip to Alexandra Road at the weekend that they did not win. For due to handling and disciplinary errors that crept into ’Stoke’s play, well-drilled St Ives recovered to post two converted tries, plus two penalties, to lead 20-7 at half-time. And despite their visitors’ substantial territory inside the 22 as they utilised the conditions in the second half, St Ives held firm and clinched the league points with their breakaway score mid-way through the half. Simon Appleby’s consolation try ensured ’Stoke got another score their efforts warranted, but the late red-card, his first ever, of returning lock Russell Northcote, for illegal stamping, capped a frustrating South West One result.

As he still tries to put his new-look side in place, Dixon saw a lot of positives in the display, not least in the way ’Stoke proactively tried to play their own game instead of reacting to St Ives physicality. But he was naturally irked ’Stoke did not triumph and commented: "Not to win is very disappointing. "When we executed our game plan and stuck to it, we played some of our best rugby this season, especially early on. "If we played like that in weeks gone by we’d be mid-table, but we didn’t stick it to the structure that was working." He added: "We only made three real mistakes but were punished with three tries when we stopped playing to our pattern. It’s something we must learn from. "We weren’t going to play outside 13 but some of the boys got carried away with their passing, and the ball didn’t got to hand as it was doing, particularly for their first try. St Ives turnover and score and we’ve let them back in it." That 15th minute score from winger Lee Taylor, converted by full-back Grant Thirlby was a lifeline as, from the outset, ’Stoke tore into St Ives and took them aback.

Scrum-half Fish’s clever blindside dart in from just outside the 22 from a ruck following a break from Dave Lambert that was well-supported by the front row, caught St Ives cold. Simon Humberstone added the extras on 10 minutes. ’Stoke were on top of their game, yet when St Ives restored parity, there was a hard fought 15 minute spell where the forwards gained significant yardage but without an end product, particularly as the St Ives unit became wise to hard-grafting Caan Childs’ pick up and charges from no 8. However, a succession of turnovers and kicks advanced St Ives close enough for flanker Michael Brooke to score on 30 minutes after ’Stoke’s defence had previously held the pack up on three occasions in the far right corner. Two minutes later as St Ives came again, Tom Northcote was penalised for off-side by referee Luke Pearce, and Thirlby took the three points on offer from just short of 30 metres out. The full-back did so again on 35 minutes too as Chris Williams’ yellow-card gave St Ives another scoring chance to make it 20-7. Undeterred, ’Stoke launched another offensive and worked extremely hard to progress to within a metre of the try-line; breaks by Humberstone and Appleby aiding the territorial gain before impressive tight-head Shane Murphy set off on a superb driving maul his fellow forwards drove on. Unfortunately, as the ball was recycled, Appleby was held up just short and Pearce duly deemed the flanker was holding onto the ball. The offence fortuitously allowed St Ives the chance to clear their lines when a ’Stoke try would have made a huge difference.

The return of Williams strengthened the forwards once more and when Andrew Patrick’s run drew a penalty, Humberstone made it 20-10 on 45 minutes. As ’Stoke clearly progressed with the mindset of taking penalty points when on offer, another one, this time 40 metres out, gave Humberstone a kicking chance he narrowly missed. ’Stoke were in the ascendancy but "we found a very solid St Ives defence hard to penetrate," said Dixon, and on 65 minutes, as they found themselves just shy of the 22, his side were undone. A swift counter-attack following a "frustrating turn-over of our scrum," said Dixon, yielded two St Ives runners. Flanker Louis Stevens supported his scrum-half’s break out, passed a stretched ’Stoke, only for new centre Mike Swenson to get back to produce a heroic try-saving tackle. But support from centre James Earp to take the grounded Steven’s pass ensured St Ives got their try, which went unconverted. Phil Perkins’ introduction aided the ’Stoke pack, but St Ives remained belligerent in defence until the 80th minute, when Tom Northcote, Perkins and Fish combined to set up Fish’s lovely reverse pass for Appleby to crash over, sadly too late to have any impact on proceedings.

’Stoke: Ollie Rogers; Dave Lambert, Mike Swenson, Andrew Patrick, Darren Lillywhite (rep Tim Richards 54 mins); Simon Humberstone, Jamie Fish; Simon Lovegrove (rep Phil Perkins 70 mins), Jamie Folan, Shane Murphy; Ross Stirling, Chris Williams (rep Russell Northcote 54 mins); Tom Northcote, Simon Appleby, Caan Childs.