TROJANS coach Pete Surtees admitted before the match he would be satisfied if his side came within ten points of their higher league opponents in the Powergen Junior Vase, KCS Old Boys.

It was a benchmark fixture for his charges to see if they were prepared for next season, should they be promoted from Hampshire 1.

So their 19-14 victory sent him home delirious - and sure that they are more than ready.

They outplayed their Surrey hosts in every department and only allowed the London 4 South-West mid-table outfit their points through their own over exuberance in the last five minutes, which saw KCS snatch an interception try.

Trailing by a point at the break after Tim Zeale had kicked two penalties but conceded a converted try, Trojans tore into the second period with venom when fly-half Nigel LeBas stole in with a well-worked score.

James Pennington converted and posted two further penalties by which time the visitors were well on top of the game.

"I'm absolutely elated," said Surtees. "KCS played a similar style of rugby to us but we were outstanding. I can't praise my players enough.

"We had to tinker with the side a bit with Tom Mackintosh pulling out on Saturday morning but Miles Seddon had a cracking match and Ian Smith and Stevie Fitzgerald were outstanding coming into the front row.

"What filled me with the greatest pride is knowing we now have the strength in depth to cope with withdrawals and beating a side like KCS - and away from home as well - can now set us up for playing in their league should we get promoted in April."

Nomads re-enacted their Vase victory of 1995 by springing another surprising defeat on their high-flying local rivals Fareham Heathens on a boggy Cams Alders pitch 15-12.

With the game switched to the wider second XV pitch with the first team ground under water, Nomads stormed into a 15-0 interval lead with winger Pete Swift crossing twice and James Hardy slotting a conversion and a penalty.

But the introduction of talented Heathens fly-half Neil Haworth almost turned the game as first John Jarvis and then Jamie Daly clawed their side back into the contest. But dogged defence ensured Nomads held out for a memorable victory

Clubman Matt Davis said: "We played how we have played for most of the season. We opened up in the first half and then played it close and ragged in the second, which was enough.

"It was a really enjoyable win and one which we can now use into the league campaign to move away from the bottom."

Heathens coach Matt Southey bemoaned the amount of players unavailable but still feels that they will be ready for the crunch match with Trojans next week.

"The problem we have is our guys do not realise how good they are. This is a wake-up call for us but we'll use this for the better ahead of next week and I'm confident we can bring the result in."

The slickness and pace of the Old Wellingtonians backs were too much for New Milton & District to contend with as they bowed out 50-20 to the unbeaten Surrey 1 leaders.

But the Foresters were still in the contest until the final ten minutes as they visitors stretched away to rack up the half-century, which gave the scoreline an unfair reflection.

Tom Morgan and debutant scrum-half Tom Humphreys, the former Basingstoke player, scored Milton's tries while Bryn Darbyshire added ten points through the boot but the hosts were massively disappointed to go out to such a large tally.

"We were a little weak in some of our defensive tackling duties," admitted club secretary Nick Hanmer, "and we allowed them to gain pace and momentum."

Hampshire's other Vase representatives, Petersfield, were cut off by 12 minutes of added injury time in the 17-11 defeat by Dorking, given they were ahead at the end of normal time.

They conceded a try five minutes into the exhaustive added period - and that was that.