Southern Counties North

Aylesbury 32

Stow-on-the-Wold 8

STOW came up against a well drilled and organised side in Aylesbury but were outdone in the set piece.

From the start, the home side dominated the scrum which put Stow under consistent pressure. However, a Nick Cafearo penalty opened the scoring.

From the restart, Stow were caught offside and instantly the scores were level. Then the dominance of the Aylesbury scrum began to show, as Stow failed to hold the push and a second penalty was converted.

A series of penalties followed but instead of carding a Stow front row the referee bizarrely sent No.8 and pack leader Craig Chapman to the bin. The resulting scrum provided Aylesbury with a converted try.

Stow were holding their own in open play but were still struggling up front and another converted try before half-time put the hosts 20-5 up at the break.

Stow were still very much in the game territorially but were struggling to keep the ball and silly mistakes meant possession was lost. Aylesbury then scored their third try when a series of missed tackles let in a very soft score, although the visitors felt aggrieved as the referee had indicated a penalty to Stow earlier in the move.

By now, Stow were tiring and decisions were not going their way.

Aylesbury secured their try bonus point when they spun the ball wide from a free kick.

The last quarter of the encounter saw Stow show that they can play. They camped in the home side's half but Aylesbury were very strong in defence.

However, the pressure did pay off, when Alex Kelley came in from full back at pace and scored a great try in the corner; Cafearo hit the post with the conversion attempt.

Stow were beaten by the better side on the day but they know they can play much better than they did.