'Stoke respond to Kelly's rant (From Basingstoke Gazette)

'Stoke respond to Kelly's rant

1:00pm Monday 1st March 2010 in

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JIM Kelly was delighted to see his Basingstoke side react to a half-time roasting and produce a rousing second period performance to beat local rivals Havant 24-0.

Basingstoke struggled to get a grip on the game during a dour opening 40 minutes at Down Grange on Saturday, but ran in three tries after the break to emerge as comfortable winners in the end.

“At half-time we knew we were not playing well,” Kelly, ’Stoke’s head coach, said. “There were a few stern words spoken and I think the boys took that on board.

“We certainly turned it around after the break.

“We controlled the game and started to dominate in the scrum, which gave us a platform to win the game.”

Former All-Black flanker Sam Harding opened the scoring from the base of a scrum six minutes after the break and Basingstoke went further ahead when they were awarded a penalty-try.

The visitors then had a man sent to the sin bin and Basingstoke took full advantage, a fine move leading to a try for winger Ashley Paterson. However, despite having plenty of pressure, they were unable to cross the line again to secure a bonus point.

“I think we tried to force it a bit too much and we would have got the bonus point if we had played like we did at the start of the |second half,” Kelly said.

“We were controlling the |corners then but we started trying to throw things around as we looked to force the issue.”

The result means that Basingstoke remain fifth in the National Three London table and extends their advantage over Havant to five points, while the game doubled up as a Hampshire Cup semi-final – meaning that ’Stoke will get the chance to retain the trophy on home soil in April.

“We would have liked the bonus point but, all in all, it has been a good day,” Kelly said. “It was nice to get the result and it would be great to win some silverware at the end of the season.”

See The Monday Gazette for a full report and more pictures.