Stoke strong!

Basingstoke 28 pts v Weston-super-mare 9 pts

FX-backed Basingstoke gave their chances of staying in the national leagues a big boost on Saturday with a convincing victory over fellow strugglers Weston-Super-Mare. Stoke clinched the win with a superb spell mid-way through the second half in which they crossed for 2 tries. Playing uphill and into the wind Stoke were slow to start and Weston put pressure on them straight from the start. Despite several minutes of pressure though, all Weston had to show for their efforts was a penalty. Basingstoke then came back into the game as they began to cope more comfortably with the Weston lineout drives and made some searing breaks up the middle of the park through the backs. This resulted in a series of 5 metre lineouts and a Weston prop being sin-binned for stamping. Stoke however were unable to find their way through some stern defence and came away with nothing. Weston extended their lead after 25 minutes of play when fly-half James Reid slotted his second penalty of the afternoon from in front of the posts. Basingstoke's Phil Della-Savina and Andy Wilson were then both sin-binned and Stoke came under wave after wave of Weston attacks. Their line remained intact though until Weston scrum-half Luke Hember was binned for punching and Stoke were able to clear their lines. The game then became a bit disjointed as neither team could establish more than 1 or 2 phases of play, until Della-Savina and Wilson returned and Stoke began to get a grip on the game. After consistent pressure prop Steve Collins crashed over from short range for the first try of the afternoon, with Ian Calder narrowly missing the conversion to bring the half-time score to 6-5 in Westons favour.

The second half started at a hectic pace as Stoke applied pressure immediately from the kick-off. Westons attempted clearance was charged down and the ball fell kindly for Barrie Kirwan who crossed from short range. Calder converted and then added 3 penalties to give Stoke a 21-6 lead with 18 minutes of the second-half played. Stoke put the game beyond Weston when Kirwan crossed for his second try of the match after a well worked blindside move from a scrum put him over under the posts. Calder added a simple conversion for a 28-6 lead with 17 mins left. The rest of the game was stop start with Weston looking to score a consolation try and Stoke looking to add more points.Both sides wrung the changes, but to little effect as the only score that was added was a third Weston penalty for a final score of 28-9. This was a pleasing display from Stoke who saw all their hardwork of recent weeks eventually come together with a great display, and a just result. Tom Dean was outstanding at scrum-half and the backrow of Della-Savina, Richard Baker and S St.Bernard working tirelessly to set the platform for the win.

After, a delighted Director of Rugby Ian Calder said "This was a very important win for us to-day. The turning point came when we were down to thirteen men and drove them back in a line-out, an area which Weston had domination. We also capitalised with 15 points when they had their scrum-half binned. It was encouraging to see all players perform and no-one hiding in their shells which helped us in not conceeding a try."

link to RFU site