With no cup action, the Isle of Wight took the chance to leapfrog to the head of Hampshire Division Two, maintaining their 100 per cent record in disposing of Alresford, but it took a while for the Islanders to get on top.

It was not until nearly half an hour had elapsed before Stu Browne went over following some excellent inter-play between the forwards and backs.

Browne added a second before Phil Hemopo and Andy Whyte crossed to stretch the lead. Whyte had a fine day with the boot also, the Ventnor cricketer banging over two conversions and two sweet penalties.

"There were some lovely moments of play," said a delighted coach Richard Beardsall. "Alresford are a big old set of boys and we had to work hard to find the chinks in their armoury.

"The backs played very well after having to wait and be patient for the breaks to come. Rich Sawle, in his first game back, controlled the game, so it was very good to be top of the table."

Havant are on the up and up, having moved into fourth in National Division Three South with a crushing 48-5 success over highly-troubled Camberley, who are now rooted to the foot of the table and destined already for the drop.

Havant dominated in all aspects of the game, especially in the forwards where the ball was turned over no less than six times in set-piece scrums as the visitors turned the screw in strolling to a 26-0 interval advantage; prop Steve Jack starting the onslaught on just three minutes.

It took until the second quarter before they really got going and, after that, there was only one winner, especially when Dave Jones crossed twice either side of half-time as his side scored four in the first and second.

The result moves them within two points of unbeaten leaders Rosslyn Park.

Ellingham & Ringwood turned in a positive 33-26 result over a strong Southampton II but they received a massive blow to their league chances as skipper and fly-half Martin Chaldecott suffered a serious knee injury and is likely to be out for the rest of the season.

Fareham Heathens seem to have picked up their fortunes, as they travelled to Farnham II and returned 16-14 to the good, Aussie John Coulson scoring a debut try.