Southampton were the better team in Saturday's London League 3 South West local derby and finished comfortable 20-9 victors against a disappointing Tottonians side.

Hosts Southampton should have been out of sight by half-time but squandered chances and only had a 10-3 lead when turning to face the wind. Dave Griffiths had given Southampton the lead with a well-struck penalty but he missed a sitter in front of the posts after converting Tony Cador's try.

Paul Goodall had landed a penalty in a rare Tottonians attack just before half-time and slotted another immediately after the interval but Southampton promptly raised their game just as they did again when Goodall kicked a third penalty early in the final quarter.

Those two bouts of excellent play from Southampton produced tries for Alex Scott and Ben Fraser.

Gosport & Fareham maintained their unbeaten record and the league leadership when defeating Portsmouth 13-10. However, some dreadful tactical kicking and choice of wrong options by Portsmouth let Gosport off the hook when the game was there for the taking after Portsmouth had managed a 7-6 interval lead playing against the elements.

Richard Lloyd had rewarded Gosport's earlier efforts with two penalties before Matt Gronow raced from his own 22 for a try, converted by James Drew, that gave Portsmouth their lead.

Drew added a penalty to reward early second-half pressure but Portsmouth paid the price for failing to use the wind when Gary Towse broke through following a couple of tap penalties for a try converted by Lloyd that gave Gosport victory.

Esso caused a major upset when beating Old Alleynians 17-16 but the win was fair reward for an excellent first-half performance and a strong rally in the later stages. A solo try for Simon Blann rewarded half an hour's domination by Esso. Micky Grimes improved Andy Headley's try before the Old Boys kicked a penalty near half-time.

Slackness by Esso following the interval was punished, firstly by a converted try, then a couple of penalties, so Esso had to rally to regain the lead. This they did when Grimes touched down after a 22-metre drop-out was charged down by Esso.

Andover slumped to a first league defeat, going down 20-12 at Cobham. Well beaten at scrum and line-out, Andover suffered from lack of ball but kept in touch thanks to four Tony Chapman penalties. Jersey remain unbeaten and with games in hand after thrashing Old Reedonians 55-9.

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