READING failed to follow-up their excellent victory against Slough before their rest week as they fell to a 28-19 reverse at Stow-on-the-Wold in Southern Counties North.

Things started badly for Reading when early pressure from their hosts led to a converted try after three minutes, with a penalty shortly after giving Stow an early 10-point lead.

Reading eventually established a position in their opponents' 22 and after a long period of battering away at the line, during which Stow were reduced to 14 men for persistent infringing, Fraser Koefman crossed for a try near the posts which Guillaume Janine converted.

Reading were soon on the attack again and were frustrated when a push off the ball on James Mitchell stopped him from taking a pass on the halfway line with a seemingly clear run in.

Stow were reduced to thirteen as a result when the referee issued a second yellow card.

However. the visitors squandered the resulting possession and, from a penalty, Stow set up a good position and by recycling possession forced themselves over for an unconverted try.

A further penalty was added to give Stow an 18-7 lead, but Reading struck back just before the break when Koefman crossed for his second try which was also converted by Janine to leave the visitors trailing 18-14.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with each side getting a fair share of possession, but Stow making better use of theirs.

They added two more unconverted tries – one from a clever kick through and the other following pressure on the Reading line – while for the visitors, despite several breaks, the final pass always went astray.

Reading did add a further try after some good handling when James Mitchell benefited from a catch from Will Proctor Searle from a Dan Witko cross kick to score in the corner, but despite some promising back moves they were unable to add to their score and came away with nothing.

Reading face a tough test at home to unbeaten table-toppers Wallingford this coming Saturday.

  • BERKSHIRE Shire Hall – who host Faringdon this coming Saturday – suffered a nightmare day at the office as they were obliterated 80-12 at BB&O Championship leaders Chipping Norton.