Harlow 0, Basingstoke 24pts

FX-backed Basingstoke eased their way through rugby's Powergen Cup qualifying round to set up a home first-round tie against London Scottish next Saturday, writes Martyn Humberstone.

With only five of last year's first-team regulars, the visitors settled down after a scrappy opening and were rewarded with a penalty, which Brian Parsons narrowly missed on five minutes.

Three minutes later, the impressive Vincent Feausi made the first of his many good breaks.

Matt Lucas, who led the backs well, charged down a clearance on Harlow's 22 but the supporting Simon Appleby could not gather the ball three metres from the line.

On 17 minutes, Harlow broke into the 'Stoke 22, where they tried to spin the ball wide. Debutant Jason Luff juggled a potential interception but could not recover the ball, with the Harlow defence upfield.

Harlow missed a penalty but offered no threat in the remainder of the half.

On 24 minutes, Jim Dixon, who was always in the action, gained a turn-over which saw Feausi break to feed Luff, who scampered to within five metres of the line.

When the ball was recycled, Dixon was on hand to bundle over the line for a 5-0 lead. Parsons' conversion hit the post.

On the half-hour mark, Selwyn St Bernard picked up from the back of a scrum to feed Appleby, who knocked on two metres out.

Continued pressure led to the second try. St Bernard again picked from a scrum but managed to offload the ball to Appleby in the tackle. This time the back-row forward was driven over the line for a converted try and a 12-0 lead.

The second half was nearly all 'Stoke and Luff made good ground before being tackled.

After 50 minutes, the visitors won a Harlow lineout. St Bernard made good ground to the home 22 before the ball was re-cycled for Dan Rees, who did not look out of place in his senior debut. Parsons collected and then Rogers was on hand to complete the move for an unconverted try.

On 65 minutes, Harlow broke out from their 22 and, in their only real visit into 'Stoke territory of the half, nearly scored in the corner.

'Stoke regrouped and spent the rest of the game in the home half. Many half-chances were created but the only score came from Rees and was converted by Parsons.

Player-coach Dixon said afterwards: "That was a pleasing performance, particularly keeping a clean sheet for an away win.

"We will need to work on our presentation of the ball and our line-out was not as smooth as normal. There were good debuts from all the players, with Feausi being the man of the match."

Basingstoke: B Parsons; O Rogers, V Feausi, D Rees, J Luff; M Lucas, A Byett; S Lovegrove (rep I White), M Evans (capt, rep D Pack), J Davenport, R Stirling, A Wilson, S Appleby, J Dixon, S St Bernard (rep Christie White). Reps: G Murdoch, D Jones, Carl White, C Hampson.