Basingstoke trounced at North Walsham

FX backed Stoke suffered a heavy defeat away at North Walsham by 62 points to nil. Stoke's preparation was not helped by players pulling out on Friday and even on Saturday morning and the unavailability of 10 props. This left a dilemma for Director of Rugby Ian Calder who solved the front row situation by securing Tom French from Wasps on loan for the day. On a dull day Stoke's performance mirrored the weather for much of the match. Scrum ball of any quality was difficult to win and any line out ball won was mainly in their own half whilst any loose ball secured was scrappy. This meant that Stoke were defending for much of the game and Calder didn't have a kick at goal during the 80 minutes. The more dominant Walsham forwards were soon on top applying pressure on the Stoke pack. This resulted in early penalties for the home team who opened up a 9 point lead with 3 penalties. For the rest of the half Walsham forced errors from the Stoke team who conceded 4 tries 2 of which were converted and a further penalty to go in at half time trailing by 36 points to nil.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the previous half with the home team dominating proceedings. The home team ran in 4 tries 3 of which were converted to make the final score 62 nil. Stoke were not helped by loosing their captain with injury in the first half nor by a rather harsh sin binning on Ian Calder. Another worrying aspect of the game was the two penalty tries given away by Stoke. This defeat along with other results now leaves Stoke in bottom place in the league and unless they can put together some much needed wins to help confidence a gap could develop between them and the sides above.

Calder added "It's the same people each week who put their bodies on the line and until we get all 19 players to do so for the whole 80 minutes we will continue to get results like to-day. This is now the time for action and not words."

Team: Lucas (Barton), Holmes (K.White), Jones, Buckland, Fayden (Saunders), Calder, Wickes, French, Evans, Ryder, Northcote, Wilson, Appleby, Dixon, Chapman (C.White).

Final Score North Walsham 62 pts v Basingstoke 0 pts

NEXT GAME Saturday 6th December home to Old Patesians k.o 2:30 pm.
                

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