No contest!

Basingstoke 97pts v Spartans(SW) 0 pts at Pack Lane 17th Dec 2005

After a disappointing week in the Powergen South West one league following a defeat against highflying Weston, 'Stoke were hoping to make amends against a refreshed Spartans side With a good crowd supporting the home side following a tremendous turn out for the pre match lunch, expectations were high for a home win to finish off a good year for a side that started 2005 in a precarious position at the bottom of London 1. The players did not disappoint as the game started well for 'Stoke and the signs looked ominous for Spartans from the start - arriving 25 minutes before kick off with no substitutes.
An early try (due to Spartans only fielding a 14 man team at the start of the game with their 15th player still getting changed)! came from a well worked backs move allowing Dave Lambert to run through a huge whole and then off loaded to Humberstone, to leave the score at 5-0 after only 2 minutes. Ten minutes later captain Simon Appleby scored a try under the posts to leave Humberstone a simple conversion attempt to take the score to 12-0. After a further six minutes Lambert added himself to the score card. Humberstone added the conversion and took the score to 19-0. It took until the half hour mark for the next score, and again it was on the side of 'Stoke with a converted try through centre Simon Buckland. The score was now 26-0 and the team who were looking to gain promotion soon gained plenty of confidence through a converted try from Youngster Jaime Fish and a second try from skipper Appleby - also converted by Humberstone. Just before half time 'Stoke turned up the pressure and scored a further two tries through hooker Mark Bushnell and stand in full back David Lambert. Humberstone converted the second of the tries to leave the half time score at 52-0.

The half time talk pleaded for more of the same from the dominating 'Stoke side. The half time talk appeared to have an immediate affect with a try through player coach Jim Dixon converted by Humberstone to take the score onto 59-0. 'Stoke soon went into another one of their comfort zones and took another 17 minutes to score more points. The points came in the form of a converted try from Marshall playing at inside centre, to extend the lead to 66-0. For the first time this season Stoke kept the pressure on their opponents and scored a further five tries. These came from Saunders, Dixon, 2 more from man of the match Lambert and finally from Williams, 3 being converted by Humberstone to leave the final score 97-0.

Whilst many thought the ref blew up early to deny Stoke the century score their performance deserved, the home side had enough chances to cross the 100 score line long before the final whistle. Stoke must take heart from the fact that they not only scored their first 50 points in a league match this season but went on to score the highest score in their league this season with no reply. Many aspects of the home side delighted the crowd but Stoke must put the sides above them to the sword if they are to gain promotion this year.

Dixon added "That was a nice way to finish the year against a side that never gave up. Some players went out and proved a need for their selection and I now have a positive selection problem in the New Year. At times we were a bit greedy with individuals trying to score tries for themselves when simple team play could have resulted in more points."

link to RFU site