Basingstoke 13pts North Walsham 13

AN IMPROVED Basingstoke, trying to play their way out of the relegation zone, deserved more from a match they dominated, writes Peter Phipps.

In a match played in good spirit and in good conditions, three players were sin-binned. This prompted Basingstoke director of rugby Nigel Redman to break a personal rule and openly criticise referee Alan Biggs.

"The referee was absolutely disgraceful," said Redman. "The referee and touch judges had no empathy with the way the game was being played."

Yellow cards were shown to two Basingstoke players, Grant Taylor and Phil Della-Savina, inside a minute. Both were punished for minor technical infringements at rucks.

Neither player had been warned previously and the same applied after the break to North Walsham's Tim Malone, also a back-row player.

Basingstoke were reduced to 13 men eight minutes before the break. And the penalty awarded after Della-Savina's yellow card led to the first of the visitors' two tries.

The penalty was kicked to touch and, from a lineout 10 metres out, the North Walsham forwards mauled the ball on for flanker Grant Furlong to touch down in the corner.

A 13-3 home lead was whittled down to five points but scrum-half Phil Friel missed the difficult conversion.

Basingstoke, with two enforced changes to the selected side, had made a bright start. Dave Lambert, thrust into the number 10 shirt by a foot injury to Sid Claffey, slotted a penalty after four minutes.

Friel, also benefiting from an offside decision, put North Walsham level three minutes later.

Lambert, who followed Jonny Wilkinson as the Lord Wandsworth College fly-half, added a second penalty after 12 minutes when the visitors were punished for not releasing in the tackle.

The Basingstoke forwards were superior at the scrums and lineouts so Neal Taylor, restored to the Basingstoke captaincy, had no hesitation in kicking to touch when his side won a further penalty just inside the North Walsham half.

A quick return pass from Kelvin Chapman, who caught well in the middle of the lineout, to Paul Fisher enabled the hooker to put away Della-Savina at pace and he ran in from 15 metres for Basingstoke's only try after 16 minutes.

Lambert added the conversion to give his side a perfect start.

In contrast, Friel, handed another penalty chance three minutes later, had the first of three misses at goal.

After scoring their try at the start of their two-man superiority, North Walsham were unable to ram home the advantage in the rest of the 10 minutes.

Basingstoke continued on top during the third quarter but had only a penalty that went narrowly wide to show for their efforts.

As the game went into its final quarter, North Walsham worked their way upfield and, from the base of a ruck on the 22, Friel kicked into the corner. Left wing Aiden Brand sprinted round the cover to make the touchdown but was called back for a foot in touch.

With the match 64 minutes old, Malone became the third player to be yellow carded at a ruck.

Full-back Denville Elleston made a splendid outside break after fielding a kick ahead and Basingstoke should have cashed in their man advantage. Although they won a penalty, North Walsham were able to clear.

More ill-luck hit Basingstoke when skipper Taylor had a kick charged down on his 22 and scrum-half Friel collected to run in the visitors' second try after 73 minutes.

The conversion would have given North Walsham the lead for the first time but Friel's kick didn't have the distance.

In the closing minutes, Basingstoke upped the pace, looking for two points they so desperately needed, but the closest they came was when Lambert tried to drop a goal deep in stoppage time.

Redman summed up: "We deserved the two points but, like a few other times this season, decisions went against us.

"But it was a much better performance and we've got to take that forward to next week."

Basingstoke: D Elleston; C Saunders, A Jones (rep J Palmer 76min), N Taylor (capt), P Nunn; D Lambert, T Dean; N Young, P Fisher, L Bramhall, J Morgan, K Chapman, R Baker (rep S St Bernard 74min), P Della-Savina, G Taylor. Rep (not used): S Orr.