A MUCH-WEAKENED Winchester side proved no match for a rampant and full strength Basingstoke, who coasted into the quarter finals of the Hampshire Caffrey's Cup with a 60-8 victory at Down Grange.

It was all too easy for the hosts, who ran in ten tries to one, which warmed the good crowd that had ventured out into the wintry conditions.

But Winchester's almost weekly trait of being slower to start than a rusty old banger on a frosty morning reared it head again, as they played catch-up after conceding three tries in the opening quarter.

Phil Della-Savina's pick-up from the base of the ruck to release Ian Calder after just three minutes, and when Neal Taylor benefited from a line-out to create an overlap three minutes later, the writing was already on the wall for Winchester.

The first of three Chris Norton tries followed shortly afterwards, ahead of Jeremy Cooke, captaining the side for the first time since his move from Esher in the summer, putting his team on the board with a penalty.

But he missed an easier chance after Della-Savina and Winchester prop Stuart Moreton were sent for ten minutes' cooling down after a moment of handbags following a ruck in midfield.

Both sides scored with their lesser numbers; Basingstoke first when Norton was put clean through and let Gareth Jones loose to dive over, only for Rob West to cancel it out two minutes on after Ricky Taylor's good carry through.

However the floodgates sprung open after the break, as Calder's side crossed three times in the first ten minutes through Richard Baker and Tom Dean's quick tap penalty, while Norton's brace in 12 minutes cruelly exposed the visitors defences.

Basingstoke were running from all areas by now. Jones added a personal second and replacement Rafer Joseph received the cheers for the tenth and closing try of the afternoon.

A buoyant Basingstoke director of rugby, Ian Calder, was pleased that his side have gone through the month undefeated. He said: "After we lost to Sutton & Epsom in the league in the last week of November, we made a call that through December we would not lose.

"Winchester was on the back of that today. The lads played well and have given themselves a good boost ahead of a tough league month in January.

"The cup is important to us - that showed in the dressing room before hand when the cup was brought in for us to see. It made everyone very aware of its relevance to the whole club."

For Cooke, while he was proud to have the chance to lead the side, it was not a day to remember. "I think this is one we have to forget very quickly", he urged.

"Personally, I don't think we deserve to be on the end of the rout that happened. We played quite well; the only difference being in the tackling.

"Everyone is very disappointed but we can take a lot from it especially some of the lads' performance. We knew it would be hard and we have got some injuries.

"But we are also lacking in confidence and if we had put together a much better showing here, we may have still lost but it would not have been the rout it was.

"All in all, not a very enjoyable day for all involved."