Southern Counties North
Stow 7
Thatcham 34

IT WAS another disappointing result for Stow-on-the-Wold on Saturday with a 34-7 home loss to Thatcham – but this young side stuck at it until the end.

The early signs were ominous as the visiting pack shunted Stow backwards and over the try line for the opening score within the first five minutes.

Stow struggled to get into the game and as in the last few weeks were having to defend quite a lot.

Frustratingly, when the home side did have the ball they were guilty of kicking away too much of their limited possession.

After some more pressure Thatcham scored their second try from a good break, but some weak tackling resulted in the score being made under the posts.

Stow kept plugging away but couldn’t string many phases together which meant they had few scoring chances. But at the break they were still very much in the game at only 12-0 down.

Stow needed to get off to a bright start after the interval but it was Thatcham who seized the initiative.

A quickly-taken penalty inside their own half was run and good handling resulted in another try.

Soon afterwards they collected their bonus-point try; another quick penalty was run and a converted try added to the scoreline.

Stow then enjoyed their best period of the game. They retained possession well and kept the pressure on Thatcham but just could not score.

Thatcham held out again and then replied with two further tries of their own before another period of Stow pressure saw the very willing Jamie Verden skirt his man and score under the posts; John Mathewson converted for Stow but the referee soon blew the whistle for the end of the game.

This weekend Stow continue their Wadworth 6X Southern Counties North campaign with a visit to Wallingford who sit just one point above them in the table.