RUGBY UNION: London League - Division 2 South

Winchester 18, Portsmouth 24

WINCHESTER gave a much improved performance at Nuns Road last Saturday, especially from the pack, but it was still not enough to gain two crucial league points.

A bruising game of ifs, buts and might have beens saw the hosts succumb to a gift-wrapped try in the closing minutes. The defeat can be put down to their old failings - giving too many penalties away and final passes not going to hand.

Winchester's head coach, Mike Marchant, was left tearing his hair out in frustration.

"We should have won this game at a canter, but we threw it away," he groaned.

The visitors were awarded an early penalty try when their man was deliberately tripped in a straight race for the try line. Wylie's simple conversion gave them a seven point lead they just about deserved.

But then Winchester's forwards asserted themselves, Hayes' inclusion from the start giving them an extra lineout option. His partnership with the bullish Campbell Ettinger in the second row meant that the scrum rarely took a backward step.

From quickly recycled ball came the try of the season as centre, Nick Destefano, cut inside to score under the posts - at least he would have done had he remembered to ground the ball properly!

Portsmouth punished the mistake when Ettery seized on loose ball to score, the conversion giving them a flattering 14-nil half time lead.

Rob West had proved a handful for the visitors' defence and he was even more of a handful after the break when he made it to the line after a jinking run. Although the conversion went wide, Kinsey scored with a penalty to reduce the arrears to six.

Winchester were now in barnstorming form and remained camped in the Portsmouth half for most of the rest of the match, pulling to within a point with a two-yard charge that the missing Adi Mort would have been proud of.

Although Wylie nicked a penalty back for the visitors it didn't look like altering the course of the match as a Kinsey incursion from full back saw Winchester take the lead for the first time. The hare had been caught.

With ten minutes to go, the score was still 18-17 and although there had been frequent stoppages for injuries, they had not diminished the ferocity of a contest between old rivals. Rogers at fly half did his best to ensure it went Winchester's way, but the hosts found the outcome hard to bear.

A break down right field had Winchester scurrying across to cover, but vital tackles were missed. That allowed Godkin to pounce on a kick through, and he fell on the ball to score. Wylie converted and that was that.

When the fire and tempest had subsided, the ubiquitous Marchant sounded a note of cautious optimism.

"These are the sort of points we can't afford to give away," he said. "However, looking at the next ten games, we've got to hold ourselves together against Barnes and Richmond. We know we've got a mountain to climb, but I'm confident that if we continue to build, by Christmas we'll be in a much stronger league position than eighth."

Winchester: Kinsey, West, Ashwin, Destefano, Parkinson, Rogers, L Ryan, S Moreton, Millar, B Moreton (O'Donoghue 75), Hayes, Ettinger, Browning, Knight, Pervin.

Tomorrow (Sat 4th) they travel to high-flying Barnes.