London League - Division 2 South
Tunbridge Wells 22, Winchester 13
ALTHOUGH they kept going and kept trying until the very end, Winchester were eventually turned inside out at the picturesque St Mark's Recreation Ground last Saturday.
And with their team having won only two out of 11 league matches away from Nuns Road throughout the whole of last season, Winchester supporters could be forgiven for thinking: "Oh no. Here we go again."
On the basis of one match, however, such a gloomy outlook is unwarranted. Indeed, Simon Rogers and Andy Ashwin seem to be forging a good understanding at half-back, and it will surely not be long before other aspects of their game gel together.
Winchester got off to an excellent start in far flung Kent, with Dan Kinsey quickly making up for a glaring penalty miss to put his side ahead. The visitors looked eager to hustle and bustle Tunbridge Wells out of their stride, and when the ball popped loose, Rogers could not believe his good fortune in picking it up and jogging to the line.
With Kinsey converting, Winchester found themselves 10-nil to the good and cruising. Poor passing and even worse handling had cost the hosts dear, because scrums and lineouts had given them an ideal platform.
But with half time approaching, Winchester appeared to be trying too hard to impress. Passes went astray and over-elaboration in the backs didn't help either.
At this point, their prop, Barry Moreton, was yellow-carded for persistently collapsing the scrum. But it would be exaggerating to suggest that the resulting reorganisation cost the visitors the match - even though they leaked a try right at the break when Threlfall bludgeoned his way over from short range. With Clark missing the conversion, Winchester could breathe again.
Just after the interval, Kinsey was again on target to give the Hampshire side a healthy lead of 13-5 and silence the home crowd. But not for long, as Tunbridge Wells came storming back with a three-try burst that ran Winchester ragged.
First, Hammond took advantage of an overlap to score in the left corner, Clark again missing the conversion. Then it was the turn of Crees on the opposite wing to burst through the defence, and with full back White taking over kicking duties the conversion went sailing over.
A deficit of 17-13 soon became 22-13 as Leroux put the finishing touches to some smart work by the hosts, who were now brimming with confidence.
Despite all this, Winchester were not finished. Two penalties from Kinsey narrowly missing the target and desperate pressure from the visiting pack so nearly payed off. However, the visitors' forwards lacked close support and, had the late charges of Ettinger and substitute Alex Hayes brought home the bacon, it would have been more than they deserved on the day.
Winchester's head coach, Mike Marchant, recognised this in his post-match assessment.
"We made too many errors," he admitted. "We need to work on our continuity. It was encouraging, though, that we played for a full 80 minutes and we all know we can still raise our game."
l Winchester have no game tomorrow (20th) as they were given a walkover in the 1st round of the Intermediate Cup.
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