'Stoke safe from drop

JOYOUS Basingstoke players celebrated a vital win that ensures league survival.

A terrific performance on Saturday, when it mattered, gave 'Stoke the crucial points they needed to stay in South West One.

Tries from Simon Buckland and Karl Buttle put the gloss on an outstanding team effort, where tenacious defence built the platform for success.

'Stoke wrote their own fate by beating their fourth-placed hosts to render inconsequential the wins by previous relegation rivals Bracknell, at St Ives, and Chippenham over Reading Abbey.

After a tough, injury-ravaged campaign, director of rugby Jim Dixon was ecstatic with the win and attaining safety, but foremost on his mind afterwards was to hail his players.

He said: "I am incredibly proud of the boys. Every one of them turned up and performed. There was no way we were going to lose this game.

"The intensity, commitment and maturity we needed was all there, especially among the young boys who have stepped up to do a great job this season.

"They, and we as a side, haven't had those things consistently this season, but it was all there today, and that is very positive. It shows what we are capable of in the future."

Dixon, who returned to the side at openside flanker, added: "To come to Weston and not concede is outstanding. At the start of the second half, we had eight scrums to defend against on our line, and we kept them out.

"At other times in the season, we would have collapsed and conceded, but we never gave up out there. Everyone fronted up."

He then said: "I am very, very happy. It takes a massive weight off my shoulders, now that the club is safe.

"It has been a difficult season. We have had so many injuries, but I always had faith it would come right."

In Somerset, the battle 'Stoke knew was ahead of them became instantly clear in the first minute when Simon Buckland took a boot to the head when the outside-centre was on the floor at a ruck.

Buckland had to leave the field to be stitched. Darren Lillywhite briefly replaced him, yet 'Stoke refused to be intimidated.

Mike Goodall's eighth-minute penalty drifted the wrong side of the posts. But, two minutes later, three phases of play and quality recycling 10 metres out yielded a try for Buckland as Jamie Fish and Simon Humberstone combined to put him in under the posts.

Weston proved their quality during the rest of a physical first half, but handling errors came regularly to halt attacks.

In a testing crosswind, Goodall just pulled a 30-metre penalty wide, but he made amends on 40 minutes to make it 10-0 after another Weston infringement.

A harsh penalty against Tom Northcote - the No 8 was on his feet to grab the ball after tackling rampaging second row Bryce Noble - gave Weston the chance to post some points but, from the 22, Matt McQuaid missed.

Dixon said: "I did wonder if 10 points would be enough, but things were always going to be close in a tough match.

"We knew we would have to work very hard to defend, but Weston were one-dimensional and we knew what was coming."

A last-ditch ankle-tap from Buckland stopped the blindside Mike Denbee scoring, but it set up a period of 10 minutes of sustained pressure in the second half.

Five times, as they kept the ball in the forwards, Weston came close to breaching the 'Stoke defence, but Dixon's men worked to keep their hosts out, eventually securing the turnover and clearing their lines.

The confidence that gave the side was reflected in their renewed attacking thrust.

After calling for a little grubber kick from Humberstone to chase, winger Buttle beat his dithering opposite number for pace to claim the ball and run in under the posts, giving Goodall an easy conversion.

Leading 17-0 with 20 minutes still to play, it was by no means game over, but, despite their territory and possession, Weston were forced into errors by 'Stoke's belligerent aggression, especially in the loose.

'Stoke were not to be denied their win and the assured display spoke volumes of the talent within the club.

'Stoke: Mike Goodall; Dave Lambert, Simon Buckland, Myles Rutherford, Karl Buttle; Simon Humberstone, Jamie Fish; Neil Young, Jamie Folan, Shane Murphy; Ross Stirling, Chris Williams; Robbie Northcote, Jim Dixon, Tom Northcote. Reps: Matt Oliver, Gareth Patterson, Darren Lillywhite.