Stow RFC are defeated by league leaders Swanage (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Stow RFC are defeated by league leaders Swanage

STOW lost 5-35 away on Saturday to a well drilled and efficient Swanage side who showed exactly why they are still unbeaten and top of the Powergen South West 2 East table.

Unavailability again left Stow weakened up front, which showed as the Swans took immediate control.

From the start, the visitors took the ball upfield and promptly lost possession.

The Swans took full advantage of a gaping hole and scored close to the posts but missed the kick.

Within five minutes, Stow again turnover ball and this time missed the front line tackles, allowing the easiest of run-ins. This try also went unconverted.

With less than 15 minutes of the game gone and with Stow hardly having touched the ball, a penalty was conceded.

The ball was quickly spun wide and the outcome was yet another unconverted try.

Stow's back line, when they had possession, looked the part - but their main job was defensive with scrum-half Nathan Graham saving two more certain tries with great cover tackles.

Nonetheless, Swanage went further ahead with a converted try after a series of phases that their opponents could not stop.

With ten minutes of the half left, Stow managed to gain some continuity of possession and pinned the home side in their own 22, but could not score.

Just before the break, the away team again lost the ball and were driven back into their own half, resulting in a kicked penalty.

Suffering a 25-point deficit at the break, Stow had to do something.

They managed to dominate the first ten minutes of the second half and deservedly scored when Mark Whitney chipped behind the defence for Merick Royce to score. The conversion was missed.

Swanage began to wake up and again took control in all phases. Even so, Stow's resolve and commitment in defence restricted them to only two unconverted tries, both coming from forward drives, from lineouts.

Although Stow were well beaten, they can take some positives from this game against almost certainly the best outfit they are likely to come up against this season.