The Crows got off to a comparatively slow start for them against their bottom of the table opponents, but it still took just seven minutes for them to register their opening try of the contest.

After a lineout on their own 10 metre line, full back Semi Tabanisivesi entered the attack to create confusion in the Faringdon defense before offloading to outside centre Dougie Charman who cruised across the whitewash.

It took another 10 minutes before the hosts were able to extend their lead courtesy of a fabulous solo try by fly half Brad Mills. He crossed under the posts which allowed Charman an easy conversion which made the score 12-0.

The visiting Oxfordshire side were able to get themselves on the scoreboard via a 35th-minute penalty, but two further tries through captain Sam Short and a second from Charman wrapped up the bonus point before half time and saw the Crows head into the break with a seemingly impregnable 26-3 advantage following another superb 40 minutes of rugby.

With a large squad available to the coaching staff, Crowthorne made a number of changes in order to get players some game time and this allowed Lukas Zanurinis to make his debut for the club.

Sadly he only lasted four minutes before being forced off the park with what was later diagnosed as a dislocated shoulder, an unfortunate start to his Crows career.

However the hosts overcame that setback with another early try in the second period, scored by impressive scrum half James Jarvis.

However Faringdon were nothing if not brave and they began to hit back through their powerful pack of forwards.

The visitors took advantage of the changes made by Crowthorne and rarely allowed them possession in the following 20 minutes.

And they had the Cricket Field Grove faihful twitching as four tries - albeit uncoverted - allowed them to close the gap from 31-3 to just eight points at the back end of the half.

Although it was the forwards who were dominating for Faringdon, only No. 8 Mark Viner crossed from the pack, while full back Darren Clark dotted down twice and outside centre Kieran Archer also picked up a five-pointer.

With just five minutes remaining, it appeared as though all the momentum was with the visitors, but Crowthorne noticeably lifted their defensive effort as they looked to wrap up the win.

And this paid dividends after Crows turned over a Faringdon attack deep in the hosts’ half, before controlling play right the way up the field.

Karl Roberts’ men began to shift the play right and then left and ultimately scored a match-winning try when wing Tom Wilson was able to take on his opposite man and beat him on the outside to ease the nerves of the home side’s supporters.

From the restart the Crows could have further extended their lead but Phil Derbyshire was forced into touch agonisingly close to the try line from what became the last play of the game.

Wilson was recognised as Crows’ best back on the day, while the strong second row effort of Sam Lea ensured he was named as forward of the match.

Crowthorne now have a rest week before visiting Harwell on November 15.