High Wycombe coach Mark Barry praised the character of his players after watching them come through a tough game against title rivals Stow-on-the-Wold with a 22-14 victory.

Stow had lost only once in seven games on their own patch this season but Wycombe scored four tries en route to picking up a bonus point win that puts them six points clear at the top of the table.

After losing a 12-point lead, Barry’s team found themselves 14-12 down before stepping on the gas to see off their opponents with two further tries, leaving their coach effusive in his praise for their efforts.

He said: “Games like that really test the backbone of a team or test the will of the players to win, and I think it was really, really good at the end to come away with not only the win but the bonus point win as well. It was a really good result.

“We were 14-12 down so we had to come back from that. To be in control, lose control and then get it back again really showed that the players wanted to win. You can have everything you want in place, but it’s that desire that you can’t coach which really showed through.”

The win was made all the more important after a 15-7 defeat to third place Royal Wootton Bassett a week before.

Barry felt the defeat may have been due in small part to a ‘hangover’ from the festive period but believes they made amends with their performance on Saturday.

“It was always going to be the case of having a bit of a hangover, if you know what I mean, from Christmas. Don’t take anything away from Wootton Bassett they’re a good team, but the boys didn’t play as well as they could.

“It was a fair result. We could have still won the game but they deserved to win. The players really owed it to themselves to perform on Saturday against Stow, and it’s not an easy place to go. They boys played really well for the full 80 minutes and got a well deserved win.”

Wycombe lead the way in the Southern Counties North division with eight games left to play, and Barry says his team will be true to the principles they’ve held all season in their pursuit of the league title.

“Every game you go out you want to win,” he said. “It doesn’t always happen that way but you want to win. Whatever happens at the end of the season with however many wins we’ve got and so on will determine it.

“We won’t take our foot off the pedal or change anything that we’re doing. Our set-up won’t change. Every game we go into we want to win and we’ll go from there.”

Kingsmead will host the semi-finals of the Intermediate Cup on Saturday as Barry’s side take on Bicester for a place in the final. After a one point victory against the same opponents in their last meeting, the coach is expecting a tough fixture.

He said: “We’ll put out the strongest team that we can field and I’m sure Bicester will be in the same position. They’re in the hunt for the league as well and they’re a good little side.

“They’ll come over with as strong a side as they can muster and they may well try and get a psychological advantage for when we play them in a few weeks time in the league.”