If evidence was required that Tottonians were ready for the step out of London Division Four South-West this season, you need have looked no further than this outstanding performance in dire conditions against local rivals Trojans.
To run in ten tries, with fluent handling and generally at pace from long distance, showed why Bob Millard's side are four points clear at the summit of the league and have not lost a single game at first XV level all season.
The rain poured all afternoon but it did not prevent Totts, and in particular the bulldozing pair of full-back Guy Tonkins and highly-impressive teenager Michael Searle, from running through the Trojans defence.
Tonkins gave the home side a 17-0 lead in the opening 12 minutes. He barged his way to the line in a style reminiscent of Jonah Lomu running over Tony Underwood at Twickenham some eight years ago, but the full-back did it twice, breaking tackles galore to cross.
But give all credit to Trojans, who bucked-up their game and produced some good passages of play, especially in the tight were they edged the game. Totts won this game almost exclusively in the backs.
James Pennington broke Trojans' duck with a penalty and it took the hosts a further 20 minutes before they added a third try through skipper Ali Ramus, who benefited from Chris Bethel's catch and drive at the back of a lineout to land on the loose ball to claim the score.
Immediately from the restart though, well claimed by prop Jon Hyde, former Wales under-21 centre and Trojans captain Ollie Joisce weaved in and out of the Totts defence to cut the arrears to 12, which would have been a fair reflection on the first half.
That was until prop Matt Searle did a 'Tonkins' and ran from the 22, beating the attempted tackles to charge for the line to close the first half 29-10 ahead.
The restart for the second half saw Tonkins speed up the left wing and release young winger Richard Buck for his first before Pennington, who was sin-binned for alleged stamping shortly afterwards, replied with a penalty.
His fluffed clearance kick gifted Paul Goodall with a try, while Trojans were 'Tonked' again when he dropped over the line for his third, thanks to the support play from the excellent Ramus.
They entwined again for Buck's second and aided Aaron Nelson for another before Trojans were awarded a penalty try when replacement winger Russell Clarke was hauled down by his shirt collar with nothing between him and the try line.
Dave Lamb, another replacement, finished off the day with Totts' tenth try which moved them away and clear at the top of the table, especially with nearest rivals Farnham going down by a single point at Purley John Fisher.
Trojans, who slipped to the foot of the table for the first time, had no complaints and their coach Richard Cheal admitted that his side were beaten by the league champions-elect. "They are the best team in the league," he accepted.
"We showed plenty of passion and commitment and, in fairness, the score is a bit unfair to us. We made four silly mistakes and found ourselves 28 points down. But we came back well and showed we could play some good stuff.
"It does, though, highlight some of the weaknesses in our game with a scoreline like this. They were good, especially in the conditions, so I hope they get promoted - so we don't have to play them again!"
Totts' stand-in skipper Ramus was pleased, but knows his side could have won by a greater margin. "We played well in parts and did enough to beat them by 40 points. But we know we could have done much better and won by a more convincing margin."
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