London League - Division 2 South

Winchester 16, Beckenham 8

AS opening league games of the season go, it may not have been pretty to watch.

But Winchester's hard-fought win over a disappointing Beckenham outfit at Nuns Road last Saturday will have done them no harm, especially after the traumas of relegation by a hair's breadth at the end of their last campaign.

Winchester seemed to be surviving early pressure from the visitors - until they gave away a penalty under the posts, which Butterworth converted with aplomb.

Almost from the restart, however, Winchester drew level when new boy in the centre Dan Kinsey, who had an excellent all round game, saw his kick go over of f the right hand upright.

Home confidence grew and, instead of panicking under pressure, Winchester put in some beefy tackles. They cleared their lines with raking kicks from another newcomer, fly half Simon Rogers, or set up swift counter attacks. Pace and guile in the back line began to tell as the leaden-footed Beckenham forward effort disintegrated.

Then, after a sterile passage of play, came the game's cameo moment. At last, winning clean possession on the visitors' ten metre line, the experienced Andy Ashwin showed his considerable distribution skills. Some incisive running created an overlap for left wing Mark Castle to race over, allowing Kinsey sufficient angle from which to convert.

The same player repeated the dose with a penalty soon after.

Had Winchester gone into the break at 13-3, a comfortable win could have been expected. Instead, they gave away a soft try to Rob Smith, who cantered home when given acres of space.

Relieved opponents saw the conversion attempt drift wide on the breeze, and the same kicker fluffed another effort on the resumption.

Beckenham grew increasingly desperate and were grateful for Winchester's generosity in allowing them relieving penalties. Ironically, the home side effectively won the match when Kinsey kicked a penalty for what appeared to be hands in the ruck.

The game was to have a poignant moment when veteran Mick Sullivan came on to replace home prop Barry Moreton. Winchester closed the game down from that point on, defending well round the fringes.

Had Beckenham showed Winchester's poise behind the scrum, the result could have been different. As the game wore on, however, Winchester began to make the most of cleaner lineout ball from Tom Pervin to control the play.

And, instead of the expansive option, they gave the ball back to the forwards, in particular lock Kerry Clow, whose bullocking runs down the middle committed men to the tackle, creating space and time. Beckenham tried hard but simply ran out of ideas.

Winchester's businesslike head coach, Mike Marchant, was justifiably upbeat afterwards.

"We competed well in all areas," he said. "We still have things to work on, but it's good that we can build on many positives after just one outing."

Team: Ryan, West, McCormick, Kinsey, Castle, Rogers, Ashwin, Pervin, Knight, Tait (Browning 75), Stratford, Clow, Moreton (Sullivan 65), Miller (Rowe 78), O'Donaghue.

Revenge will be on Winchester's minds when they travel to Tunbridge Wells tomorrow (Saturday 13th) for their next league encounter.

The Kent side dumped them out of the Intermediate Cup last season.