Oxford Harlequins 13 (Try: . Con: . Pens: 2.). 

Basingstoke 20 (Tries: Appleby 2. Cons: Humberstone 2. Pens: Humberstone 2.). 

Report courtesy of Basingstoke.

After a disappointing defeat in the final of the Hampshire cup-despite a valiant effort -'Stoke were hoping to end their run of poor performances in the league with an away win at Oxford Harlequins. In what were difficult conditions, with a blustery wind and rain, and the home side in need of a win themselves, it was not going to be easy. 'Stoke-like so often before-started slowly and gave away an immediate six point lead through ill discipline. After 20 minutes 'Stoke started to mount some attacks, and their pressure soon paid off when they were awarded a penalty. Humberstone stepped up and halved the deficit.

The rest of the half was all one way traffic with 'Stoke camped in the Quins 22. Although 'Stoke didn't manage to convert any of this pressure into points, they did create numerous scoring opportunities and were building in confidence after a suspect start. The first twenty minutes of the second half were evenly matched but plagued by bad handling and poor refereeing. On twenty minutes, it was the home team whose discipline let them down and allowed Humberstone the chance to level the scores.

Three minutes later Quins were back in front through a converted try. After ten minutes of solid pressure, in which both Humberstone and Appleby scored what looked like tries, but were adjudged to be held up, Stoke were starting to look the better side. 'Stoke were eventually rewarded with a converted try of their own through captain Simon Appleby, to draw the scores level. With 2 minutes left the home side were under pressure with a scrum five metres from their own line. The ball fell loose and Appleby was on hand to pounce and score. Humberstone duly converted and Stoke were in the lead for the first time.

The final whistle duly followed and Stoke gained the win. For 60 minutes Stoke did not play with any fluidity or continuity and an honest evaluation would be one of too many mistakes, turn overs, and conceding needless penalties. What did come through was the effort of the last 20 minutes to force the win and to cut down on errors which meant keep ball being played. Humberstone had an excellent game, Russell Northcote did well in the line out and Appleby was on hand for his two tries.

Dixon, who was not happy afterwards, added "We did not perform well to-day. We put ourselves under pressure and did not cope at the breakdown in the first half. We could blame the conditions but ultimately we were too loose and some poor decisions did not help. We need to put this game behind us and look to our last two matches for improvement if we are to get any wins"

Spartans 5 (Try: Unknown.). 

Chippenham 56 (Tries: Martin 3, Champion 2, Fereday, Price, Parry Curtis, Whiteman. Cons: Martin 5, Gibson 2.). 

The journey to Spartans on Saturday was not wasted as Chippenham recorded a 56-5 win over the host club but this was not a great game of rugby.

For coach Rob Alford, this was a game to put behind them and concentrate on next week’s cup final.   He said; ‘The scoreline flatters us because we could definitely have played much better than we did.  At times, we had to come down to their level but for next week’s cup final we will have to step up a few gears.’

The first half saw Chippenham build up a healthy 0-26 lead thanks to tries from Jon Whiteman, Adie Price, Alex Fereday and Dave Martin.   James Gibson kicking three conversions.  But play was scrappy and uneventful.

The second half was more of the same and saw Chippenham run in a further three tries.  Dave Martin completed his hat-trick with further contributions came from centre Gary Champion and prop Karl Parry-Curtis after he rumbled over the line from a set piece penalty move.

Spartans grabbed a consolation try towards the end of the half.

.  

Reading Abbey 7 (Try: Kindon. Con: Burch.). 

Clifton 49 (Tries: Bell, Lambert, Viol, Trump, Schmid, Lloyd. Cons: Barnes 5. Pens: Barnes 3.). 

Report courtesy of Reading Abbey.

If only the first 65 minutes of this Powergen South West One encounter at Rosehill last Saturday had been like the last 15, what a match it would have been. But unfortunately for Abbey, Clifton spent most of the game showing why they are title contenders as their organisation and speed of handling enabled them to touch down six times with only one late reply.

The rain had arrived just in time for the kick off and the visitors soon had Abbey on the back foot as fly-half John Barnes kicked two penalties awarded for offside in the first five minutes. The match settled into what has become the pattern of the season with Abbey strong in lineout, where lock Tony Potts was again outstanding, and scrum but with the opposition backs always looking much the more dangerous.

Abbey came back as a penetrating kick by home fly-half Chris Burch brought his side into a scoring position, skipper James Kindon made ground twice but a knock forward ended the move. Burch had a chance to pull three back but his 35metre effort hit the wrong side of the upright before flanker Steve Willis almost crossed only to be pulled back for a knock forward.

The second quarter was once again Abbey’s downfall as Clifton’s slick handling saw them run through for three tries in the space of eight minutes. First winger Andy Bell finished a move from half way, then hooker Tom Lambert ran unopposed through the middle and finally full-back Rob Viol won the race for a touch down. All three tries were converted by Barnes, bringing Clifton up to a point a minute before Abbey sorted themselves out and again began to apply more pressure up front.

Gareth Priest, who has in previous matches successfully shored up the Abbey centre had gamely agreed to fill in at scrum-half in the place of the retired Simon Shaw and he began to find his feet in his new position and his side began to put together some coherent movements. Kindon again came close but there were no further scores before the break.

Barnes’ third penalty signalled another flurry of tries for Clifton as their flanker Craig Trump ran from the half-way line to touch down, substitute Number 8 scored from a quick penalty and winger Ali Lloyd finished off a first-phase move. Barnes converted two of them but to everyone’s surprise failed on the third.

A huge defeat looked on the cards but up front Abbey’s initially slight advantage was now growing and the last fifteen minutes saw the home side on the attack. Burch’s clever kick and follow up gave Abbey a five-metre scrum which was pushed over the visitors’ line and Kindon touched down for a consolation try well converted by Burch.

Maidenhead 45 (Tries: Plamus 2, Mackay, Cripps, Mueller, Parkhouse, Lynch. Cons: Walton 5.). 

Clevedon 17 (Tries: Thie, Morgan. Cons: Hawkes 2. Pen: Hawkes.). 

MAIDENHEAD outscored Clevedon seven tries to two to condemn the North Somerset side to their seventh league defeat in a row and sees them drop in to the relegation zone level on points with Cornish side Penryn

The game was virtually sewn-up by half time with Maidenhead already 38-17 in front with tries from outside centre Tom Thie and hooker James Morgan plus two conversions and a penalty from fly-half Dan Hawkes the only reward for the Clevedon efforts.

Maidenhead, who scored just one converted try after the break, secured their victory through two tries from full back Joe Plamus plus one each for centre Stuart Mackay and Simon Cripps.

The forwards also got in on the act with one each from lock Mark Mueller, blindside flanker Mark Parkhouse and No.8 Brendan Lynch with fly-half Dan Walton on target with five of his seven conversion attempts.

Weston 10(Try: Reid. Con: Reid. Pen: Reid.). 

Chinnor 11 (Try: Thompson. Pens: Buckley, Williams.). 

Report courtesy of Weston super Mare.

Weston’s automatic promotion hopes were virtually washed away when they went
down by a single point to champions-elect Chinnor.

Heavy rain arrived at the Recreation Ground a couple of hours before kick-off to render the pitch into a state of flood; and by the end of the match, it resembled a ploughed field. But under these conditions, the teams produced an exciting match.

The Seasiders started well, and within eight minutes were 10 points ahead. After their kick-off had not reached the required 10 metres, they counter-attacked effectively from the ensuing scrum and after Mike Lowis and Matthew McQuaid had made 50 metres down the right, James Reid ran through the defence from a set piece close to Chinnor's line. Reid added the conversion and soon added a 35-metre penalty. But Chinnor then put the hosts under prolonged pressure and important defending was required from Takura Madamombe and Kevin Hobbs before Weston suffered a serious blow when Ashley Russell was forced to retire with a shoulder injury. From then on the Weston line-out deteriorated as quickly as the conditions and Chinnor were almost level at the break with a penalty by Matt Buckley and a try by Morgan Thompson. Goal kicking was not easy and Reid and Buckley failed early in the second half, but Reid's break and McQuaid's clever kick saw Alec Hughes unluckily hit the corner flag as he dived over.

By now Weston were looking to close out the match, but neither Reid nor Lowis were able to convert penalties and as Chinnor made one final effort, Hughes made two try-saving tackles before replacement Richard Williams found the only patch of grass left on the pitch to kick what was to be the winning penalty. There were now only four minutes of normal time remaining and Weston gave everything they had in their attempt to secure the points. There was another break by Reid and a long run by Gavin Simpson, who had replaced Russell, and in the final seconds, Andrew Richards was tackled into touch at the right corner. But it was not to be their day.

Cheltenham 21 (Tries: Edwards, Gilder. Con: Crisp. Pens: Crisp 3.). 

Penryn 22 (Tries: Webster, Brown, Geraty. Cons: Brown 2. DG: Brown.). 

Cheltenham led at half time thanks to three Mike Crisp penalty goals 9-7 whilst Penryn got the halves only try when fly half Nick Brown went over and added the conversion.  .  

In the second half Brown dropped a goal to give the visitors the lead and in the 48^th minute they went 17-9 ahead with replacement back row man James Geraty touching down and Brown converting.

Back came Cheltenham with tries from prop Shaun Gilder and centre Jon Edwards, Crisp adding a conversion, to take the lead 21-17.