BASINGSTOKE made it eight wins out of eight as they beat visiting Fareham Heathens 54-19.

The home side played well in the first half against the strong wind, breaking the line with ease through good running lines and support play, in particular Brad Turner and Rhyan Harmon-Scott standing out.

This resulted in the crowd being treated to some really good scores that were well worked, which has been a consistent pattern across the season.

Stoke controlled possession and territory and starved them of the ball until mistakes allowed Fareham to get hold of it where they showed flashes of what they could do without threatening Basingstoke’s try line too often.

The second half it was expected more of the same, but credit to Fareham they did not give up and the first 20 minutes they played some good rugby of their own scoring 19 points.

A strong scrum setting a platform for them to work off they exploited defensive gaps and Basingstoke poor discipline scoring some well worked tries from broken play.

The intensity of the first half was missing and allowed Fareham to gain momentum which they duly took. Eventually in the last 10 minutes we managed to bring the intensity back and the performance improved and saw us score 14 points, but losing the half 19-14.

Despite that lots to be positive about as Stoke record another win.

The inconsistency in the second half just shows that there is a lot more for this team to work on as they continue to develop, which is a scary thought for the rest of the league as Basingstoke currently sit five points ahead of second placed Sandown.

This Saturday, Basingstoke are in RFU Junior Vase Cup at home to Reeds Weybridge.