Southern Counties North

Wallingford 3 Stow-on-the-Wold 43

STOW retained top spot in the Southern Counties North with a dominant second-half performance.

Once again Stow were slow to start but Wallingford for all their possession didn’t really threaten the visitors' line apart from a converted penalty.

Towards to end of the half Stow began to get their running game going.

A Stow penalty took play to the halfway line, the line-out was secured and a great run by Dan Salvage gained ground before James Holmes outpaced the defence to score. The reliable Nick Cafearo converted.

Just before the break Cafearo added a penalty to leave Stow 10-3 ahead.

The second half was a different story, with the Stow forwards making penetrating runs and the backs being spoiled for possession.

The second try was a real forwards' effort, a maul was driven 30 metres then a great run from deep by Louis Chapman resulted in the score. Cafearo converted.

The floodgates began to open and Wallingford were struggling to handle the pace and fitness of Stow. Again a forwards' drive was halted but quick ball saw Cafearo come off his wing to score and then convert.

The home side were now living off scraps and following a series of close-range penalties the referee had no option but to award Stow a penalty try with Cafearo converting.

Almost from the restart Stow managed to disrupt a Wallingford scrum, flanker Ben Ullmer picked up and made a telling break into the 22. From the breakdown the ball went wide for Cafearo to score and convert again.

Stow then had a try disallowed for a forward pass after a brilliant break by Alex Kelly, but there was still time for Cafearo to claim his hat-trick with a try in the corner. For the first time in the afternoon, Cafearo's kick went wide. Wallingford did rally in the last few minutes and spent some time in the Stow 22 but the defence stood firm.