OAKMEADIANS threw away a 10-point lead as they crashed to their first South West Two East defeat of the season at the hands of fellow title chasers Reading Abbey.

In appalling conditions, the Reading forwards squeezed the fight out of the Oaks pack to grind their way to two tries and seal a muddy victory.

It was the home side who adapted quicker to the conditions and an early Chris Walton penalty attempt drifted wide.

But they soon earned the upper hand when Troy Siaki's drive was capitalized on by skipper Hayden Hokianga, whose chip was picked up and touched down by the prolific Francois Van Schalkwyk for his sixth league try of the campaign.

An intriguing battle of styles developed with Oaks running the ball at every opportunity and the visitors keeping things tight and keeping a foothold in the game.

But a fabulous breakaway try from inside their own half, finished off by James Payne put the Meyrick Park side 10-0 ahead, although the advantage was reduced to 10-3 by an Abbey penalty in first half injury time.

Reading Abbey re-emerged for the second period on the front foot and had soon drawn level thanks to a converted penalty try, the Oakmeadians scrum bucking under the pressure.

The decisive score came with 20 minutes remaining, the visiting lock forward driving over and despite constant pressure from the hosts, they were defied by a resilient Reading defence.

Oaks: Payne, Reed, Saunders, Roddis, Van Schwalkwyk, Walton, Brady, Siaki, Gallagher (Taubale), Riley, (Bongard), Croker, Croker, Blewitt, Botha, Hokianga.

l Bournemouth stuttered to a second consecutive league defeat in Southern Counties South, going down 30-12 to a robust North Dorset outfit.

Losing experienced prop Darren Clarke after just four minutes set the trend for a miserable afternoon for the Lions.

But against the run of play, the Chapel Gate side did open the scoring when Ben Harris was alert to a mistake in the home defence and touched down.

Chris Tenuci levelled things up for the hosts eight minutes later but Alex Roseaway was on hand to gather the ball from a fine three-quarter move and outsprint the defence to put Lions back in front.

Jon Sanchez's conversion made it 12-5 but North Dorset snatched a second try right on the break to give them hope.

And against the win, the visitors struggled against a succession of rolling mauls and once the home side went in front with a quarter of the game to play, there was no way back for Bournemouth, who conceded a further two tries as the game ended in depressing fashion.

Bournemouth: Hook, McHugh, Chislett, Dallyn, Rose, Sanchez, Coxon, Holdaway, Denholm, Clarke (Scott 4), Harris, Seward, Beswick, Carroll, Kiely (Burton 61).