Stoke go down 66-7 at Westcombe Park.


FX-backed Stoke again suffered from late withdrawals and unavailability for their last away game of the season. As a result they suffered a heavy defeat but credit should be given for the commitment put in by many of the players especially as they only travelled with 17 players and lost Buckland after only 10 minutes through injury to stretch resources even further. Add this to the only other replacement being used half way through the second half, and Lovegrove helping out for the day almost playing on one leg for the last 10 minutes, then the character shown deserves acknowledgement. The game was won by the home team early on but mistakes made by Stoke helped them to their win. The 1st two tries on 5 and 13 minutes came about by their number 9 selling a dummy and Stoke not making the tackle, both converted. The difference was the first coming from a break on Stoke's 22 and the second when Stoke lost a lineout on the home team's 22 when having the first period of pressure on the home side. In between Stoke lost Buckland due to injury when potentially he could of hacked the ball from half way with no one to beat but the bounce of the ball meant he had to stretch to make contact and his hamstring suffered. This also added to the situation with Jones coming on as fly half and Northcote moving to centre. Westcombe added two more tries on 22 and 31 minutes, the first due to 6 missed tackles and the second due to concerted pressure being applied, both covered. Stoke then rallied before the interval with a pass going to ground 5 metres from the line on 35 minutes and then Cullum intercepting on 37 minutes from the 10 metre line for Northcote to convert to leave the half time score at 28-7.

Stoke needed a good start to the second half to restore confidence in their ability to compete but had the worst possible start. The home team kicked off and won the ball unchallenged and drove to Stoke's line where they were awarded a scrum 5 meters out from which they scored a converted try. On 12 minutes of the second half Stoke lost Stirling for 10 minutes for a harsh yellow card from the referee who has carded more Stoke players himself than all the other referees put together this year. This proved to be costly as the home side capitalised on the one man advantage and scored 3 tries, 2 converted, during the 10 minute period to leave Stoke trailing 52-7. Debutantes Taylor and Murdock were finding out what national league rugby was all about. Taylor won all his own ball in the scrum but has to work on his lineout presentation whilst Murdock showed his pace on several occasions but has to develop his decision making skills. Stoke were again disrupted when Holmes had to retire and the subsequent reorganisation meant captain for the day Dixon had to move to centre to allow Hampson to play back row. Stoke conceded two more tries on 32 minutes and with the last move of the game, both converted to finish 66-7 down.

After Calder added "The boys worked hard and man of the match Wilson epitomised the effort put in. We were not helped by the team selection problems and trying to find replacements late on an Easter weekend. We as players have one more chance next week to show our supporters what we can do. Please come along and be a positive vocal support for us." Team: Murdock, Holmes, Buckland (Jones), Holmes (Hampson), Cullum, Northcote, Vincent, Lovegrove, Taylor, Hobden, Stirling, Wilson, Appleby, Dixon, St. Bernard.

link to RFU site