Stow miss key players - and lose (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Stow miss key players - and lose

Beaconsfield RFC 33, Stow-on-the-Wold RFC 7

STOW were well beaten as the score suggests but they did travel without four key players, which made a difference.

A reshuffled side stuck to their task but the well-drilled home team, which included a 100 percent kicker, took the spoils.

Early on, Beaconsfield kept possession and strung phases together, applying pressure that soon saw them take the lead with three easily converted penalties.

Stow did manage to string moves together but struggled to find consistency.

They also regularly fell foul of the referee, conceding numerous penalties. From one of these, the ball was kicked into the corner.

Beaconsfield won the lineout and drove over for the first try.

The in-form kicker coolly slotted the extra points.

Just before the break, Stow were unlucky to loose Craig Chapman to the bin. He was harshly singled out as the culprit.

With the extra man, Beaconsfield created an overlap to score their second converted try.

The second half saw a much better effort.

Debutant second row, Alex Willens, was a real find with his bullocking runs but these never quite made the line.

The home side kicked their fourth penalty before Stow lost Mat Hicks to the bin.

Although the second half was fairly even, Stow could not score.

Beaconsfield touched down for their third try when Stow lost possession on the 22.

The ball went wide for the touchdown in the corner, which again was converted.

Stow kept going and richly deserved a late try.

Tom Davies made a good break before Craig Chapman took possession.

He crashed and carved his way through several tackles to score under the posts leaving Duncan Smith an easy conversion but this was all too late.

Bletchley III 13pts, Stow-on-the-Wold III 10

STOW travelled to Bletchley for this league match and lost an error-strewn encounter.

The game started slowly, with Stow forwards beginning to gain the upper hand and supply ball to their youthful backs.

Unfortunately Stow's backs were not on par and silly handling errors caused many attacks to break down.

Stow's forwards drove into the 22 and a break by the ever youthful Trevor Young, who did not kick, allowed a handling move to develop, with Andy Firth touching down.

The conversion was unsuccessful.

A second try was scored by scrum-half, Dan Adams, who broke from the base of a scrum to run 40 metres and score.

Unfortunately, again, the conversion was unsuccessful.

Stow went into the second half 10 points in the lead, having missed a penalty kick just on half time.

Bletchley turned around and began to pressure Stow and scored an excellent forward try.

Despite splendid phases of play, Stow were unable to increase their score and interesting refereeing decisions caused frustration.

It is a credit to all Stow players that they kept their discipline under the splendid captainship of Andy Cartilage and continued to play positive rugby.

In the final moments of the game, Bletchley were awarded two penalties, which were excellently taken by their place kicker.

This is Stow's first defeat in the Oxford, Bucks and Berks North II league. Stow III will play Aylesbury at Oddington Road on Saturday, December 10, in this league.