Stoke just off the boil.

London Scottish 31 pts v Basingstoke 20 pts

Despite a courageous and determined effort FX backed Stoke did not get the result they wanted and deserved away at Scottish. All the good work was undone in a ten minute spell at the start of the second half when the home side scored three unconverted tries to open up a 28-8 lead. However, the spirit of this Stoke side came through for a rousing display in the last half hour to claw their way back into the match but could not quite snatch the victory. A superb start to the game for Stoke when they won their own kick off, recycled the ball four times, before the home side were penalised in front of their own posts for off side and three points from Berti inside the first minute. Scottish came back on 5 minutes with an unconverted try to lead 5-3. Whilst Stoke now had to do some serious defending to nullify the bigger pack they were against they held them at bay. On 12 minutes Stoke gained a turnover ball on their own 22 and with space behind the home teams attack a well directed kick from Stoke put the ball deep into the Scottish 22, assisted by the breeze. With Feausi giving chase and smelling a try scoring opportunity he outpaced the covering defence and managed to get the touchdown for the 5 points restoring the Stoke lead. Having to battle hard in set pieces and defending well at breakdowns Stoke were giving a good display of themselves and on a few occasions had they spun the ball wide and not gone up the middle they may of made better use of the ball. Scottish drew level on 28 minutes with a penalty and as a result Bussati was shown a yellow card. Stoke defended with great determination for the rest of the half being down to 14 players and only conceded one try on 33 to trail 13-8 at half time although this could of been closer but for 2 long range penalties missing their target.

Now playing into the strong wind Stoke could not of got off to a worse start in the second period. The home team scoring 3 unconverted tries on 41, 43 and 50 minutes to lead 28-8. During this passage of play Stoke were twice hit by the same move and were not helped by some curious decisions from the referee all of which went to the home side. The last 30 minutes was potentially the best rugby played this season by Stoke. With a high tackle count in the first half by the Stoke players they increased their efforts once again. Led by the man of the match Wilson, the back row of Rees, Appleby and Dixon started to outperform their opponents and the visitors were now finding more space and time with ball in hand. On 60 minutes Dixon picked from a scrum, fed Lilleywhite who gave to Humberstone who breeched the defence with a 30 metre break before switching with Buckland. Now in the home sides 22 Stoke set the ball got quick possession from the ruck for Berti to score and convert to reduce the deficit to 28-15. With the Stoke forwards winning more ball and the backs willingness to run the ball breaks from Feausi, Berti, Humberstone and Buckland along with Lucas working well off his wing kept Stoke in with a chance. This came on 74 minutes when again the narrow side was exploited by Lucas and Humberstone for Buckland to score. Unfortunately the conversion to leave one score in it went just wide from Berti. Stoke continued to run the ball which left them exposed at times and with time running out gave away a penalty on 79 minutes for the home side to add three point and leave the final score 31-20 to the home side. This performance from Stoke shows how much they have improved since earlier meetings with Scottish and the efforts from the whole team has to be applauded.

Dixon added "For 70 minutes we worked like Trojans and competed well. We need to look at why we gave away 3 tries at the start of the second half and ensure we do not allow scores like that to happen again. Our set pieces need to improve so we can launch our backs more often. All I asked was that everyone gave their all and that is what I got."

Team: Humberstone, Buckland, Feausi, Chimbima, Lucas, Berti, Lilleywhite, Perkins, Maxwell, Bussati (Rushworth), Wilson, Northcote(R), Appleby, Rees, Dixon, Subs not used White, Northcote(T).

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