Stow RFC upset to lose a match they could well have won (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Stow RFC upset to lose a match they could well have won

IT'S not the first time this season that Stow RFC will be kicking themselves for letting go a possible win after losing 15-34 away to Wimborne last weekend.

The early signs were good on Saturday with Stow forwards setting up driving mauls and pushing back their Wimborne hosts.

But crucially, they did not score enough points from the pressure they exerted.

Their only reward was a Duncan Smith penalty in front off the posts when Wimborne were caught handling on the ground.

From the restart, Stow conceded a penalty and the ball was kicked for touch.

The result saw the home side's large forwards winning the throw and driving over the Stow line with their first attack of the game for a converted try.

The visitors went on the offensive but could not turn the pressure into points until they won a lineout close to the home line.

From this, they peeled blind with Nathan Graham being held up on the line, but captain Pete Taylor was on hand to collect the ball and drive over the line. The conversion went wide.

Smith had a chance to increase the lead with a straightforward penalty but the wind took it wide. Stow should have scored right on the whistle.

A break from inside their own half should have been finished off but the ball went to ground, leaving Stow with just the one- point lead at the break.

Soon after the restart, Wimborne won a lineout close to their rivals' line and drove over in the corner to retake the lead and convert the try.

Stow were still in touch and, indeed, on the attack when Will Sare broke clear but was stopped two metres from the line.

The ball was quickly recycled and, with the overlap created, it should have been an easy run-in.

When a chance to chip to the Stow winger failed, the ball landed in the hands of a grateful Wimborne winger who ran unopposed from his own line to touch down under the posts, leaving the simplest of conversions.

To their credit, Stow replied immediately. When ball was won on half-way from a scrum, Rob Hudson picked up and gained 15 metres releasing Adam Beston.

He outpaced the defence to score under the post with Smith adding the extra points.

With only three points the difference, Stow was still in it until a stroke of cruel luck saw both centres, Sare and Beston, injured within seconds of each other and having to leave the field.

This took Stow's cutting edge away both in attack and defence. Wimborne seized on this and kicked a penalty before running in two more tries with one of them converted.