BASINGSTOKE RFC enjoyed a clean sweep of victories at the weekend, as the Dragons, like the first team, beat visiting Twickenham 29-24, while the Griffins saw off Portsmouth IV 48-0 and the Cavaliers and fifths received walk-over wins, writes Steve Parker.

The Dragons won their first-ever Zoo League Division Four game the hard way, as they fought back to take a well deserved victory after conceding two tries in the first 20 minutes.

’Stoke hit back as skipper Ben Hawkins found Ollie Germain to score in the corner, and this was superbly converted by Ryan Trevaskis.

The try bred confidence in the team and the forwards were well marshalled by Hawkins and fly-half Lawrence Elliott. Another set of slow ball carries saw a superb backs move result in another try.

Hawkins passed the ball to Elliott, which was followed by a missed pass to Chris Charles, who put in Rilwan Lawal for a try in the corner. This again was converted by Trevaskis for a 14-12 half-time lead.

Twickenham started the second-half brightly, forcing Basingstoke on to the back foot, and this saw them score.

The home side hit back almost immediately, with a set play from a scrum where Johan Wright, Hawkins and Germain combined to put Trevaskis through to score.

The ’Stoke scrum was impressive all day, with Sam Turner and Josh Pimm causing all sorts of issues for Twickenham, and this pressure resulted in a penalty, which man-of-the-match Trevaskis slotted over from 35 metres out.

The visitors refused to give in and quickly ran in a score, after some poor defending and missed tackles.

However, the Dragons roared again. On the last play of the game, a knock-on resulted in a Twickenham scrum.

Basingstoke tight head Turner marmalised the Twickenham loose head, allowing Tom Barnes to hook the ball back.

From here the ball passed through the hands of Hawkins, Elliott, Will Jenkins, Matt Howell and Trevaskis to complete a brilliant team try.

This gave the Dragons a 29-24 win – an excellent first victory in the Zoo League, which has proved to be a real challenge this year, with quality opposition.

Coach Steve Parker said: “What a game that was. We struggled to begin with, but once we realised we could compete with Twickenham, particularly in the forwards, we got some great phases going.

“A special mention should go to our pack today. As a prop, I love to see a great scrum and Sam Turner and the boys were superb today.

“Every single player should be proud of their efforts. “ The Griffins won 48-0 at Portsmouth IV, with man-of-the-match Mickey Jacob leading the way with four tries.

Peter Garlando grabbed a brace of scores and Steve Briggs went over once.

Dan Williams kicked one penalty and three conversions, while Jacob added another conversion.