A nine-try rout of the Trojans provided a thrilling contrast to Basingstoke’s lacklustre defeat of the Southampton-based side in the Hampshire Cup earlier this month.
Winger Freddie Gleadowe bagged a hat trick in the 57-0 away win and put Basingstoke back in contention for the top spot of the London One South league.
The Down Grange side lie in third place on 43 points, nipping at the heels of second-place Old Elthamians and leaders Chichester, both on 44 points.
Delighted coach James Croker praised his squad’s ‘simple rugby’ on Saturday.
“The forwards did their job, which is to win the ball, and the backs did their job, which is to use it,” he said.
“The players did everything asked of them, which has left all of the coaches very happy. Today, we saw how simple rugby is.”
Basingstoke beat Trojans 9-5 in the Hampshire Cup, but the performance was branded by Croker as ‘terrible’.
The remarkable turnaround saw Basingstoke get on the scoreboard after 14 minutes when centre Matt Guilfoyle dashed through a gap for the first try. Andrew Humberstone added the extras. The second try followed shortly after when scrum-half Jamie Fish fed to Guilfoyle, who put away Tom Gardener for a try.
Ceri Cummings bagged the third. The full-back finished in the far corner after Basingstoke calmly fed the ball through the hands. Humberstone scored the conversion. On 35 minutes, Basingstoke added a further seven points to the 17-0 lead.
A long pass found Cummings on the attack and the ball was fed to Gareth Kelly on the overlap for a converted try.
Try number five arrived one minute before the end of the half. A Humberstone chip found Cummings, who off-loaded to Gardener, who filtered it through to supporting Gleadowe for a converted try. Going into the second half, Basingstoke leading 33-0, looked untouchable and they kept the momentum going to bag a further four tries. On 60 minutes, Andy Hore secured the turnover on the halfway line. The ball was passed out to Gleadowe, who sprinted half the pitch for his second try.
Basingstoke hooker Ollie John was carded on 65 minutes, reducing ’Stoke to 14 men. But their superior forwards and mercurial backs meant the tries kept coming. Kelly took his second, followed by a second for Guilfoyle.
On 80 minutes, Gleadowe grabbed his third, running under the posts for a converted try.
’Stoke are next in action on December 3 in a crunch match against second-place Old Elthamians.
