Westcombe Park 66pts, Basingstoke 7

BASINGSTOKE suffered a second hiding of the season at the hands of Westcombe Park on Saturday.

FX-backed 'Stoke were hit by late withdrawals and unavailability as they suffered their third heaviest league defeat ever in their last away national league game of the season.

The already-relegated side lost 60-6 to Saturday's Kent opponents at Down Grange in December. The latest setback falls behind a 77-5 hammering at Rosslyn Park last season and a 72-6 battering at Plymouth three seasons ago as one of the darkest days in the club's history.

Credit, however, should be given for the commitment put in by many of the players - especially as they travelled with only 17 players and lost Simon Buckland after just 10 minutes through injury to stretch resources even further.

The character shown by the side deserves acknowledgement especially as the second replacement was used by the visitors halfway through the second half so Simon Lovegrove, helping out for the day, almost played on one leg for the last 10 minutes.

The game was won by the home team early on but mistakes made by 'Stoke helped them to their win.

Their first two tries - on five and 13 minutes - both followed their scrum-half selling a dummy without 'Stoke making a tackle. Both were converted.

The first score came from a break on 'Stoke's 22 and the second when the visitors lost a lineout on the home 22 when they were putting pressure on the home side for the first time.

In between, 'Stoke lost Buckland due to injury when, potentially, he could have hacked the ball on from the half-way line with no-one to beat.

But the bounce of the ball meant he had to stretch to make contact and he damaged a hamstring as he did so.

Dave Jones came on at fly-half and Robbie Northcote moved to centre.

Westcombe added two more tries - on 22 and 31 minutes. The first of these was due to six missed tackles and the second followed concerted pressure. Again, both tries were converted.

'Stoke rallied before the interval and a pass went to ground five metres from the home line on 35 minutes.

The visitors' only points came two minutes later when Yann Cullum intercepted on the 10-metre line and ran in to touch down. Northcote's conversion left the half-time score at 28-7.

'Stoke needed a good start to the second half to restore con-fidence in their ability but suffered another early setback.

The home team kicked off and won the ball unchallenged, enabling them to drive to the line, where they were awarded a scrum five metres out from which they scored a converted try.

On 52 minutes, 'Stoke lost Ross Stirling for 10 minutes for a harsh yellow card from a referee who has carded more 'Stoke players than all their other referees put together this season.

This proved costly as the home side capitalised on the one-man advantage and scored three tries, one of which was converted, during the 10-minute period to leave 'Stoke trailing 52-7.

Debutants Mark Taylor and Grant Murdoch had to adapt quickly to national league rugby.

Hooker Taylor won all his own ball in the scrums but has to work on his lineout presentation while full-back Murdoch showed his pace on several occasions but has to develop his decision-making skills.

'Stoke were again disrupted when Robbie Holmes had to retire and the subsequent reorganisation meant captain-for-the-day Jim Dixon had to move to centre to allow Chris Hampson to play in the back row.

'Stoke conceded two more tries - on 72 minutes and from the last move of the game. Both were converted.

Afterwards player-coach Ian Calder, who was a spectator because of injury, said: "The boys worked hard and man-of-the-match Andy Wilson epitomised the effort put in.

"We were not helped by the team selection problems and trying to find replacements late on in an Easter weekend.

"We as players have one more chance next week to show our supporters what we can do. Please come along and be a positive vocal support for us."

'Stoke entertain Redruth in their final division three south match for a while on Saturday at Down Grange.

Basingstoke: G Murdoch, R Holmes, S Buckland (rep D Jones), R Holmes (rep C Hampson), Y Cullum; R Northcote, T Vincent; S Lovegrove, M Taylor, S Hobden, R Stirling, A Wilson, S Appleby, J Dixon (capt), S St Bernard.