BASINGSTOKE RFC were unable to stop Chobham’s rise up the London One South table, as the Surrey side moved to second spot after 22-7 victory at Down Grange.

The home side made two changes to the starting 15 which won at Cobham the week before, with Dave Byett and Ryan Davis returning to the line-up.

From the kick-off ’Stoke were forced to defend, but despite long periods of possession from Chobham, Basingstoke were still in touch at half-time, as they only trailed 12-0.

The visitors first score came after 14 minutes as the visiting pack allowed Adam Blemings to go over after a rolling maul.

With the game played in a blustery wind all afternoon, kicking was very difficult and Harry Guy missed the conversion.

Chobham looked set to score again soon after, as Ollie Smith broke away, as off loaded to winger Liam Managhan, but a great last ditch tackle from Rilwan Lawal denied him.

The very lively Chobham full back James Dunne was the next player to break the ’Stoke line and he laid the ball off to Tony Paul who was stood-up at the Basingstoke 22 and then the danger was cleared.

More pressure from the Surrey side followed and Josh Devitt looked set to score on the overlap, but failed to gather the ball and another chance was gone.

With five minutes remaining of the first 40, the home side only trailed by five points, but the visitors extended their lead as Dunne broke clear to score under the posts and Guy kicked over the conversion.

’Stoke ended the half with their best attack of the first half, but just fell short of the try line, so at the turn around Chobham led 12-0.

The visitors took just a minute of the second-half to add to their tally as Ian Barnes and Sonny Kuwana drove forward and in the end Dominic Sammut went over.

A difficult conversion for Guy saw him put the ball wide of the posts.

The Surry side sealed the win with their bonus point try on 52 minutes, as Barnes scored after a nice break from Ollie Smith and once again Guy missed the extras which made it 22-0.

The home side then dominated the final 20 minutes as Jobi Kochanowski broke into the visitors’ half and found Matt Guilfoyle. A penalty enabled ’Stoke to kick to the corner and they won the line-out, but were held up just short of the try line.

A number of scrums followed, but the home side were unable to go over.

However, they never gave up and with four minutes to go, they were rewarded with a try from Kochanowski and Ryan Trevaskis with an excellent kick wide on the left touchline added the extras.

It was no more than ’Stoke deserved, but the visitors were good value for their win.

The loss leaves the home side still in 13th place in the London One South table and on Saturday they have a really big game at local Hampshire rivals Gosport and Fareham.

They are the side directly above ’Stoke in the standings and lost 43-25 at Sutton and Epsom this weekend.