Winchester 27, London Irish Amateurs 12

Two touches of real class from James Bingham and one from the effervescent Rob West underlined Winchester's superiority, at Nuns Road last Saturday, over a London Irish side of very modest pretensions.

And with unheralded back row man Jamie Kirkaldy burrowing his way through in between times, the hosts ended their league campaign on a high note. It was the least they deserved from a season of unrelenting effort.

Right from the off, Winchester demonstrated their hunger for victory. Not that they had to play at full tilt to achieve it, as Irish looked disinterested for most of the time. With greater accuracy in passing, the home side could have racked up fifty or sixty points. However, let nothing detract from a very satisfying result, which means Winchester will finish fourth in the table. Head coach Barry Bridgman has a solid enough base from which to build for next season.

The hosts' determined rucking and mauling took the game to Irish and it soon became clear they were going to meet with little response. Indeed, when Irish opened the scoring with a try from Sexton after twenty-five minutes, Kingston converting, then took the lead again just into the second half, when Kingston broke from a line out to score, it was only evidence that Winchester had temporarily switched off the engine to save fuel.

Taking barely five minutes to brush aside the initial indignity, the men in black and amber levelled the scores with a solo burst through the middle by James Bingham that left Irish clutching at thin air. Dan Kinsey easily converted.

A half time score of 7-7 brought a mass exodus to the bar. Most returned for the second period, though, expecting more of the same. They were not disappointed. Winchester's scrummage had recovered from its nightmare and all around the park the team were in the mood for dancing. But that would have to wait for the evening's party. Cue another alarm call via Kingston's close range effort. 12-7 to the visitors?

Enough was enough. Kinsey conducted the overture with a well struck penalty after fifty minutes. And soon the opera was about to begin.

Adam Smith replaced a grimacing young prodigy, Adam Balls, whereupon Kinsey and Sexton exchanged penalty misses as the music missed a beat. Then imperious lock forward Derek Manning took over from Alex Hayes, who had also played well. Tom Crowther replaced Iain Millar as hooker: fresh legs but same approach.

A few bursts of pace and quick ball through two or three phases saw Winchester camp on Irish's line, from where Jamie Kirkaldy did a fair impression of a mole and Winchester were in front for the first time after 65 minutes. Dan Kinsey's concentration was not dsiturbed by some illegal barracking from an Irish player under the posts as he prepared to convert.

Irish despair deepened as Winchester put together another movement with pace and panache, rounded off by the irresponsible Rob West in the right corner. The denouement was swift but painful for labouring Irish. Simon Rogers dummied a penalty kick to touch right, then switched left for Bingham to reap the reward with a fine try. Kinsey converted and Bridgman was a happy man afterwards.

"It's a good way to end the season, but the result only partially reflected our superiorit," he said.

Team: Waddington, West, Bingham, Kinsey, Balls (Smith 55), Rogers, Ashwin, Churcher, Millar (Crowther 65), Mort, Hayes (Manning 65), Ettinger, Basely, Kirkaldy, Knight.