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Basingstoke lose out in friendly Ealing 36 pts v Basingstoke 33pts at Ealing 21st January 2006
In a break from South West 1 action 'Stoke took on an Ealing side which beat them in the first round of the Powergen cup in the first game of this season. This game would be a good bench mark for 'Stoke to see the vast improvement made throughout the season. The game started disastrously for 'Stoke as after just two minutes the Ealing backs ran through a weary 'Stoke defence to score a converted try under the posts. 'Stoke's lack of urgency cost them again, ten minutes later. After a stern talking too from Dixon, 'Stoke started to play some good rugby and at times made their London 1 equivalent look very average. After a brave decision to turn down a shoot at goal Carl Marshal ran over a tap penalty to score under the posts. Humberstone kicked the conversion to bring the difference back to five. Ealing hit straight back with a converted try to take the score to 19-7. It was at this point in which 'Stoke started to dominate play. After ten minutes of non stop pressure 'Stoke player coach broke through two tackles to score from five metres. Humberstone scored the conversion to make the score 19-14. One minute before the break 'Stoke mounted a brilliant counter attack from their own 22, the ball travelled through several sets of hands before Matt Lucas scored in the corner to leave the half time score at 19-19. The first score of the second half saw 'Stoke take the lead for the first time in the match. After many phases of play 'Stoke created an overlap for Dixon to run in his second try of the game. Humberstone made the conversion to take a seven point lead. Just five minutes later Rogers scored for the second week running after he followed up his own kick following a great break down the touchline. Humberstone added the two points to take the score to 19-33. Ealing then pushed for points to get themselves back in contention. 'Stoke withheld ten minutes of pressure before a forward was exposed in the backline and the 'Stoke lead was cut by seven. The Ealing onslaught continued and although 'Stoke defended well Ealing managed an equalizer on 67. For the final ten minutes the spectators were treated to some fine free flowing rugby with many chances, the best of which coming on 75 minutes when Appleby was sent through a huge whole in the defence only to be called up for crossing. It was in the 78th minute when Ealing received a penalty in front of the posts, the chance was grasped and Ealing took the thrilling encounter by 36 points to 33. One downside was that the scrums went uncontested after 69 minutes which meant much needed scrummaging time was lost but on the positive side Stoke were often the team that outplayed their opponents and it was a shame that they didn't start to play for the first 20 minutes. Dixon added "If we had played all game like we did from 20 to 60 minutes that would have been the perfect performance. We showed how we can play rugby both in attack and defence and won that period of play 33-5. What we have to aspire to is to put that style of play together in a more consistant and lasting way." Team: S Humberstone, D Lambert (C Saunders), S Buckland (D Lambert), M Lucas, O Rogers, C Marshal, J Fish, Jim Dixon, S Appleby, S Crew, R Stirling, A Hopkins, P Perkins, M Bushnell, S Murphy. Substitutes (unused) K Townsend. |