The Goddington Dene side solidified their place at the top of the league with a fine win against a resurgent CS Stags who have put last season's travails behind them. While Combe put in a fine performance, the visitors’ cause was not helped by a succession of yellow cards at regular intervals throughout the game.

Combe made some early territorial gains and, after Harry Hudson and Josh Smith had made some gain-line breaking runs, James Burton was on hand to finish powerfully. Jacob Buckley added the conversion. Hooker Calum Harris was next to score, guiding a maul all of 20 metres and then dotting down himself for the try which Buckley converted.

Stags then secured their first bit of pressure in the Combe 22 and, when the referee spotted a deliberate knock-on, he awarded a penalty try making it 14-7. Surprisingly there was no additional yellow card sanction against WPRFC.

From the re-start the Stags clearance kick was a trifle loose and Buckley grabbed it and made good yards before feeding winger Kieran Thomson who jinked over the line to make it 19-7. The try bonus point was secured with 5 minutes to go before half-time. Combe won the put-in to a scrum on the visitors’ 5 metre line. The pack got the squeeze on, and no 8 Nick Cook peeled off to score. Buckley added the 2 points to make it 24-7 at half-time.

The second half was 7 minutes old when Combe grabbed their fifth score. A Stags line out ball was pinched by player of the match Sam Fombo and Rob White then put a slight delay on his pass to make space for Burton to score his second. Calum Harris then got his second of the match as well with a carbon copy of his first to make the score 34-7 to Combe. The final score came in the dying minutes. The ball was kicked through from a Combe boot and when there was a shove off the ball the referee awarded the second penalty try of the game to leave Combe winners at 41-7.

Another happy clubhouse after the game as the season approaches its halfway point. A weekend off Rugby now beckons but the campaign resumes on the 26 November with an away trip to Colchester.