Chobham I 5pts

Andover I 40pts

HSA sponsored Andover 1st XV travelled to unbeaten league leaders Chobham last Saturday knowing that a would see them leapfrog over their Surrey counterparts and take over top spot in London Division Three (SW).

Andover were fully aware of the task ahead and on a perfect day for running rugby they hit the home side for six with their explosive back three of Ben Maloney, Chris Reilly and the impeccable Sam Froggett running the home side ragged.

Chobham could have learned nothing from the previous meeting between the two sides as they continually kicked the ball away to the Andover fliers, who returned it with relish.

The early exchanges saw both sides miss kickable penalties and it was Chobham who gained the breakthrough when their open side flanker powered over after poor first-up tackling.

Undaunted, Andover to their credit did not panic and for once concentrated on their game and did not worry about the referee. However, the same cannot be said about a home side that consistently questioned the decisions by the match official, consequently Chobham's penalty count went through the roof and Andover were firmly on the front foot.

It did not take them long to level the scores, with Maloney waltzing in beneath the posts without a hand on him after quick line-out ball and clever decoy running. They were soon ahead with another quick score from Lester Culley and when Froggett was high-tackled when going over the white wash player-coach Keith Mitchell added the resulting penalty to send Andover's All Blacks in at half time with a healthy 21-7 lead.

Andover do not always kill off the opposition as early as they should but this time there was no sitting back on their lead and in the second half capitalised on further Chobham indiscipline after the home side had two players sin-binned, including their Kiwi player-coach, when their own New Zealander, prop Brian Asuncion, crashed over from a well-worked penalty move.

From that point on the game was Andover's, highlighted by the tigerish tackling whenever Chobham had the ball. They must have thought they were up against a team of 30 players as they rarely had any space to exploit and two further tries from Froggett and Reilly saw Andover run out worthy winners in a game where every Andover player gave his all.

It's hard to pick out individuals by Lester Culley deserved a special mention for an outstanding display at outside- half. On a day that the Andover backs excelled, it was no co-incidence that he was in the middle of everything. It was also pleasing to see the return of Alex McNair, who came on for the omnipotent Mark Gittos, and Mike Cockings. Andover now find themselves top of the table and now every team they face will be trying their hardest to beat them.

However, if they use this game as a template there should not be many upsets along the way for Marc Wilding's committed side.

This Saturday, Andover play their first home game for a month with Dorking the visitors to the Goodship Ground for a league game, all support would be most welcome.

Andover 1st XV: Cameron, Cowley, Asuncion; Wilding (capt), Bissell; Gittos, Culley (D), Corcoran; Mitchell (K), Culley (L); Froggett, Runciman, Rowe (N), Reilly; Maloney. Replacements: McNair, Cockings (used).

Andover II 41pts

Portsmouth II 24pts

HSA sponsored Andover 2nd XV kept up the pressure on Hants Senior Merit Table leaders Basingstoke with a win over fourth-placed Portsmouth last Saturday. Playing with commendable style, dominant forward play and pace behind the scrum saw a much-changed Andover side missing seven regulars race into a 24-12 lead at the break.

Their free-running backs tore through the Portsmouth defence with flying wing Louis scoring a superb hat-trick of tries and another from full-back John Inman.

Surprisingly, Andover's defence was not as good has it has been in recent games and Portsmouth hit back with two tries of their own.

The second half saw Portsmouth dominate much of the territory and only last minute tackles and Andover's dominance up front kept the visitors at bay. The second 40 minutes developed into a game of ping-pong with the two teams exchanging tries, Portsmouth scoring first only for Andover to reply when second-row Taff Newton broke away and ran half the length of the pitch before scoring under the posts.

To their credit Portsmouth never gave up and scored the next try but Andover had the last work with great support play from Gordon Simmonds, colts skipper Matt Couch and Louis cutting the opposition to pieces for the latter to touch down under the posts, leaving scrum-half Stuart McRae to add the extras.

Andover 2nd XV: Bally, Baxter, Brighty (J); Newton, Parker; Mitchell (G) (capt), Rowe (S), Kirk (C); McRae, Tedridge; Louis, Simmonds, Couch, Carter (A)(; Inman.

Andover III 38pts

Fareham Heathens II 7pts

ABC Cars sponsored Andover 3rd XV turned in fine team performance with a mix-and-match side in which Barry Collis, guesting in the second row, had an outstanding game. Wing Ian Cook ran in a hat-trick of tries and the others came from the excellent Dave Eccles, Iain Powell and prop Paul Knight with the try-of-the-game when outpacing the cover from 30 metres. Powell added four conversions in a game in which Ben Sussex continued his improvement.

Andover 3rd XV: Knight, Boswell, Taylor (capt); Collis, Carter (D); Sussex (B), Eccles, Brighty (A); Powell, Dadkah; Cook, Cutler, Piper, Hoo; Creavon. Replacement: Harrison (used).