Oh dear!

Chippenham 31 pts v Basingstoke 24 pts at Chippenham 12th February 2006

AFTER producing one of their finest team disp- lays to beat high-flying Clifton nine days ago, Basingstoke slipped up in their pursuit of the South-West One title with a shock defeat at Chippenham. Jim Dixon’s side moved up to third following last weekend’s hard-earned 15-12 triumph and hoped to keep the pressure on top team Weston-super-Mare with a win over sixth-placed Chippenham.
But an injury-hit ’Stoke, despite recovering from a 24-3 deficit to level at 24-all on Saturday – went on to fall to their first defeat of the year. And the blow got worse when it emerged the top-of-the-table clash between Clifton and Weston-super- Mare finished 15-15.
An unhappy Dixon said: "To say that was disappointing is an understatement. We needed the two points and got nothing. "The players know how much this loss means and it is down to us to remedy the situation before our next league game. "We can’t afford to give away four tries in the first half-hour and just expect to come back."
Saturday’s game in Wiltshire started badly for ’Stoke when they conceded two tries within the first eight minutes. This early wake-up call appeared to be recognised, though, as just two minutes later, winger Ollie Rogers increased his tally of tries to eight, after finishing off a simple overlap, to leave the score 12-5 to the home side. After this try, ’Stoke again stepped off the gas and allowed Chippenham to score another two tries to leave the score at 24-5 to the hosts after 25 minutes’ play. At this stage it was poor defence – a complete contrast from the Clifton game – that was allowing the enterprising home side to rack up four tries. On the half-hour mark, Chippenham had a chance to increase their lead but missed a simple penalty. ’Stoke at last started to play some good, positive rugby and their efforts were soon rewarded in the form of yet another try for Simon Appleby, who scored after a great break and kick ahead by Rogers led to a chase that the ’Stoke captain won. Simon Humberstone added the conversion to cut the deficit to 24- 12. ’Stoke spent the remainder of the half in the Chippenham 22, but efforts to play champagne rugby often proved costly, however good it looked.

The half-time talk was surprisingly upbeat, focusing only on the positives of the 15 minutes of the half. This approach bought immediate results as, just 10 minutes into the second half, ’Stoke brought the scores level with tries from Jamie Fish and a second for Rogers, the latter of which was converted by Humberstone from the touchline. But on 60 minutes, Chippenham regained their seven-point lead with a try from their full-back, converted by their fly-half. Again this was as a result of a defensive lapse and one that proved to be a killer blow, despite Chippenham missing another penalty from in front of the posts.

’Stoke raised their game again and camped in the Chippenham 22, receiving penalty after penalty, eventually resulting in a yellow card for the Chippenham hooker. The visitors opted for lineouts and scrums when perhaps three points from a penalty would have reduced the arrears to four points. But the home side defended like ’Stoke did last week and kept their try line unbreached. At this point, ’Stoke put on their remaining substitutes in an attempt to gain something from the game. With 12 minutes left, the visitors mounted raid after raid, which all accounted to nothing, due to either mistakes from the attacking side or excellent defence. ’Stoke did not manage to score the vital try and Chippenham gained themselves a well-earned two points. As much as last week was a huge victory, this was totally the opposite, as ’Stoke’s defence was not as secure, resulting in five conceded tries. When putting together phases of play, the result was often a turnover, mainly by forcing the play in trying an expansive and enter- taining style of rugby. Basingstoke now have a week off before hoping to bounce back against Clevedon, who lost to now leaders Chinnor 43-3 – on March 4 at Down Grange.

’Stoke: Dave Lambert; Gareth Jones (rep Darren Lillywhite), Simon Buckland, Matt Lucas, Ollie Rogers; Simon Humberstone, Jamie Fish; Shane Murphy, Mark Bushnell (rep Phil Perkins), Kym Townsend, Mark Beynon (rep Chris Hampson), George Scott, Simon Crew, Simon Appleby, Jim Dixon.