Beaten by a better side!

Chinnor 28 pts v Basingstoke 8 pts at Chinnor 18th March 2006

After a good win at home to Cleveden, 'Stoke were hoping to continue their bid for promotion with a top of the table clash with present leaders Chinnor. With usual half backs Jamie Fish, and Carl Marshal both carrying injuries, Humberstone stepped up from full back to his preferred position of fly half and Andy Byett was called up from the dragons for his first start for the first XV of the season.
The game started catastrophically like so often before for 'Stoke when from the kick off they conceded a turn-over inside their own 22, and consequently Chinnor scored under the posts to take a 7-0 lead within the first minute. 'Stoke soon got themselves back in the game with five minutes of good attacking play being rewarded with a tough penalty opportunity. Humberstone succeeded with the kick to bring the score to 7-3. With 'Stoke struggling to win any of their own ball, a second Chinnor score was looking ominous, and on 13, 'Stoke did let Chinnor in under the posts again to give them a 14-3 lead.

The next fifteen minutes of play were evenly contested but Stoke still gave away too many turnovers and Chinnor slowing down the ball at every opportunity. This period of stale mate was broken after half an hour of playing with another Chinnor try under the posts to extend their lead to 21-3. Stoke created many half breaks but were not able to turn them into try scoring chances. The nearest they came was when an overlap was half created for Saunders who put his foot in touch metres from the line before touching down.

After the half time break Stoke knew they had a monumental challenge ahead of them and only total effort and commitment could save the day. The second half performance answered these questions with 80% of play being in the Chinnor half. Despite all this pressure, 'Stoke could not find the break through they wanted. Chinnor had their number 8 yellow carded for killing the ball a metre from the line but Stoke still could not make the extra man count.

After half an hour of solid pressure, where Stoke were awarded 11 penalties due to the home side killing the ball or handling in the ruck, Stoke conceded yet another turnover in Chinnor's 22. Chinnor then cleared their lines with a kick downfield. Stoke gathered the ball on their own ten metre line, and kicked towards touch to gain field position. The kick went straight into the arms of an oncoming Chinnor player who was chasing the original kick. The result was an eventual try for the first points of the second half on 70 minutes to seal the game and take the score to 28-3. With five minutes to go Appleby scored a consolation try in the corner to earn some reward for the efforts of the second half, showing how to run at the home side with the commitment to break their strong workman like defence.

Overall Stoke lost the game at the break down and not for the first time gave their opponents an early lead which meant they were chasing the game early on. Ball was not won quickly enough and some set pieces did not function to excerpt the pressure needed at the right times. Rogers continued to show his worth with another good performance but the side were thwarted by a well drilled defence.

Dixon added "That was very disappointing as it virtually means the end of our promotion chances. We did not recycle the ball quickly and lost set play unnecessarily when we should have kept pressure on our opponents. We have the chance to redeem ourselves next week and lift the Hampshire Cup."

Team: O Rogers, D Lambert, S Buckland, M Lucas, C Saunders, S Humberstone, A Byett (C Marshall), J Dixon, S Appleby, T Northcote, R Northcote (C Hampson), A Hopkins, S Murphy, A Rowlands (S Lovegrove), K Townsend.

link to RFU site