AFTER two straight defeats, Basingstoke RFC will be keen to return to winning ways when they make the trip to London to face Charlton Park on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).

Last weekend, ’Stoke matched visiting league leaders Sidcup for the first 40 minutes, going in level at 5-5, but after the break they were unable to contain the table-toppers and suffered a 25-10 defeat.

Head coach Will Croker said: “I was not disappointed with the first-half performance playing against the wind. We played some solid defence and our line-out was fantastic.

“Then in the second half we went to sleep and we were making basic errors, which cost us.

“It could well be because the line-up is forever changing. This week in training we will be playing some rugby to see if we can get the players to make the most of the situations they create.”

Once again Croker will have to shuffle his line-up as Rudi Kochanowski and Adam MacDonald are both unavailable, while Dave Greenaway is still suffering with a knee injury.

Back into the squad come Tim Richards, Ryan Travaskis and Ryan Davis, after all missed the defeat to Sidcup.

Another plus for the side is the return to training of Matt Horne, but he is still a few weeks away from being part of the first team squad.

’Stoke’s opponents this week started the season slowly and lost their opening two home games, but they have since beaten Hove 41-15 and Twickenham 40-22.

However, last weekend they went down 17-5 at Sutton and Epsom.

Croker said: “We do not know anything about them, but we do not fear anyone in this league.

“At the moment, I want us to put in a consistent performance over 80 minutes, as all our losses this have been down to a period where we have allowed the other team to dictate the game.

“Against Sidcup in the second-half we ended up giving them 15 to 20 free shots at us and you know that eventually they are going to make them count.”