Redruth 43pts, Basingstoke 15

Despite the scoreline this was a much-improved display from 'Stoke and, to their credit, they were leading after 53 minutes.

This was due to a more controlled game plan and good recycling of the ball to enable them to put pressure on the home team in and around their 22 metre line.

Unfortunately each time 'Stoke only came away with a penalty and three points rather than a try.

'Stoke's early pressure was rewarded on three minutes with a penalty conv-erted by Calder.

The home side ventured into 'Stoke's territory for the first time on 10 min-utes and were awarded a penalty 30 metres out, which they missed.

However, from the 22 restart a basic error of a man in front of the ball allowed the home team a scrum on the 22 metre line, which they scored from and converted for a 7-3 lead.

From the restart 'Stoke won possession and carried the ball forward. They were awarded a penalty 25 metres out which Calder converted to reduce the arrears to just one point.

On 18 minutes a minor skirmish led to yellow cards for Drawbridge and the home prop which interrupted the flow of the game, as did the referee on numerous occasions.

During the next 15 minutes 'Stoke held parity in all aspects of the game with much of the play being in the home team's half.

From this pressure 'Stoke were awarded three penalties, from which Calder converted two and hit the post with the other to take a lead of 12-7 on 33 minutes.

By half time the lead had been reduced by a Redruth penalty, but it was still 12-10 in 'Stoke's favour.

A good start to the second half saw 'Stoke extend the lead to 15-10 with another Calder penalty after five minutes.

Again this was after good play from the visitors but, again, 'Stoke were only rewarded by the three points and not a potential seven.

When the home team had their flanker yellow-carded for killing the ball on 10 minutes 'Stoke's hopes of extending the lead looked promising.

During the period of play that they were down to 14 men Redruth converted two penalties to take the lead and then 'Stoke had Appleby yellow-carded for a technical offence on 58 minutes which led to another converted penalty and the home team with a lead of 19-15.

'Stoke now started to try to force the pace instead of playing the rugby that had held them in good stead up until then.

As a result, on 62 and 69 minutes, while 'Stoke were in the home team's half, they gave away the ball when retention was the right option for Redruth to score two break-away tries, both unconverted, for a 29-15 lead.

This effectively killed the game and Redruth scored another two converted tries for a final score of 43-15.

The score in no way reflected the effort and control expended but 'Stoke must learn to retain possession and not react when going behind by playing a more high-risk game and running the ball when safety is also an option.

Calder said: "We competed well for 50 minutes but when going behind we tried to force the game and made too many mistakes, giving away cheap points."

Basingstoke: Calder (rep Robbie Northcote), Saunders, Buckland, Chimbima, McFayden (rep Hull), Lucas, Byett, Ryder (rep Buttle), Evans, Hobden, Drawbridge (rep Russell Northcote), Chapman, Appleby, Dixon, St Bernard.