SUTTON & EPS 12: BASINGSTOKE 26

Sutton paid the price for their lack of consistency in their London Division One match at Rugby Lane, Cheam on Saturday, writes John Ashton.

When they are good they are outstanding but sometimes as at Cambridge and Winchester they under-perform and look very ordinary indeed. This was the case on Saturday.

Having beaten Basingstoke away on the back of an outstanding forward performance they seemed to think all they had to do was to turn up to win.

Forgot

What they forgot was the effort they had put into that away match especially in defence where their tackling was superb, giving the very useful Basingstoke backs no room to operate.

This commitment to the hard tackle was just not there at the weekend and they paid the price.

The pack was also disappointing. It was slightly heavier than that which went to Basingstoke and had pushed the home side all round the park.

But they barely moved the visitors on Saturday, and so failed to provide the huge quantity of ball they produced in the away game.

For the third match in a row the play options taken were often poor and this is an area of the Sutton game at which the coaching staff must take a closer look.

The match started well for Sutton with young centre Graham Dowden, one of the stars this season, powering over for a try after five minutes.

The conversion was missed but far worse from Sutton's point of view Dowden a power house tackler was forced to leave the field injured and did not return.

Basingstoke then took control of the match and within minutes were ahead.

Uprights

First fly-half Ian Calder sped in for a try which he converted himself off both uprights then scrum-half.

Scott Taylor increased the lead with a well taken try which was also converted by Calder.

Basingstoke captain Richard Baker put the game well clear of Sutton with a third try which went unconverted.

Sutton's scrum half James Daniels pulled a try back late in the match which his captain Sam Frost converted.

But Basingstoke number eight Marcus Reeves finished things off with their fourth try which again Calder converted off both uprights.

This moves Basingstoke up to second place and Sutton down to fourth.

The only consolation they can take from the weekend was that London Nigerian lost 14-12 to Cambridge, which meant Sutton fell two rather than three places in the table.

Sutton's next match in London League Division One is at third-placed Norwich on January 5.

Sutton won the home leg match 25-10 but they won't win away if they repeat last Saturday's performance.

December 28, 2001 11:00