Basingstoke travelled to promotion candidates Cleve expecting a hard task and so it prooved.  The visitors took an early lead through an Ollie Rogers try converted by Mike Goodall, but that was as good as it got.  For long periods in this match Stoke offered little or no resistance and Cleve racked up the points. A couple of binnings also aided the home side and although Stoke improved over the last 20 minutes they still went down to a heavy defeat.  Further Stoke points came from 2 peanalties to Mike Goodall and a try to Dave Lambert converted by Simon Humberstone giving the final score of

Cleve 69 Basingstoke 20

team: Mike Goodall (rep Gareth Jones 47min), Dave Lambert, Andrew Patrick, Myles Rutherford, Ollie Rogers, Simon Humberstone, Chris Jackson, Shane Murphy, Andrew Rowlands, Phil Perkins, Ross Stirling, James Saunders (rep Kelvin Chapman 60min), Jim Dixon, Gareth Patterson, Tom Northcote. Rep (not used): Matt Oliver.