Winchester off to a successful start

Having trained in mud throughout August, it was unusual to feel the temperature turned up and it took quite a bit out of the participants as Winchester showed in their 20-0 victory over fancied Old Wimbledonians in London Division Three South-West.

Having scored two tries in the first half through Dan Waddington and Scott Turner, the Nuns Road outfit relied upon a brace of Martin Livesey drop goals for their points after the break as the late summer warmth took its toll.

But it was a disjointed showing from the league favourites, who were finding their feet in this league after two successive relegations and the visitors tried, and succeeded at times, to drag Winchester down to their level.

Coach Barry Bridgman felt his side were better than the scoreline suggested.

"Our defence in the second half was excellent but we squandered 20 points," he said. "We will need to look at that."

Andover, who came down with Winchester last season, suffered a 24-20 defeat on their visit to another of the likely promotion contenders, Effingham & Leatherhead, despite scoring three tries.

Coach Will Frost believes there were many positives to come from the game but missing two conversions were the crucial factor in the end.

"It was not the start we wanted obviously, but I could see good things in the performance," he said.

Alton produced the result of the division by defeating London Irish Amateur 18-10 at Anstey Park while Jersey put themselves forward as promotion candidates with a superb 41-0 away day at Weybridge Vandals.

Gosport & Fareham had to endure a nerve-racking final 14 minutes as they clung onto a one-point victory margin at Camberley in their opening London Two South clash at the relegated Surrey side.

Leading 31-3 through two Gareth Slade-Jones scores and one apiece from back-row pair Mark Pollard and Chris Thompson, the visitors seemed to believe the game was won and cruised towards the final whistle.

But they were in for quite a shock as the hosts upped their game and pulled the deficit gradually closer. But time just ran out on them after five minutes of added time - much to Gosport's relief.

"A win is a win," said a relieved director of rugby Iain Rackham. "But the last 15 minutes, we were awful. We played well considering this was the first time we have played all together this season and have quite a few players missing. This result is a good start away from home."

With four of the games in the division finishing with margins of two points or less, Portsmouth's five-point win over Sidcup sees them go second in the table after one game!

It was far from a convincing showing from the Rugby Camp side in a typical first game of the season style clash. Although the home side deserved their win, it took a late Ollie Kneale try to take the points.

However, while the victory was gratefully received, the injury count has already reached two with Stuart McLaughlin and Pete Wylie likely to be on the sidelines for a period - the latter for a couple of months with knee ligament damage.

"We created a lot more than they did," said coach Nigel Morgan, "but it was very tiring in the heat and it was a difficult game in which we were glad to get the points."

Havant's return to National League action was always going to be a tough one and so it proved as they slipped to a 34-16 reverse at a powerful Barking side.

The Hampshire side gave a good account of themselves and were level at the interval when Keith Molyneux benefited from Steve Cruddas' counter attack to score but with higher league experience in the Essex side to the fore, they stepped up a level and ground out the result.

They were helped by some Havant indiscipline and that will need to be quashed if they are to thrive in this league.

"Barking are a big and powerful side all round," said director of rugby Adam King. "But we were well in the game for 65 minutes.

"However, fatigue crept in. We still carved out chances which must be taken at this level though."