It was a disappointing afternoon and a real wake up call for Saxon Safety sponsored Andover at Winchester last Saturday, as the home side came away with a comprehensive victory.
Winchester are expected to be pushing for the top spot this season, having invested heavily in their squad and they gave the new boys a lesson in accuracy and discipline, especially in the second half.
It wasn't all doom and gloom however, as particularly for the first half an hour Andover made a real fight of it with Bryn Waite looking sharp throughout at the lineout and around the park and CJ Feirn leading from the front in midfield.
Indeed Andover took an early lead through Roman Barton Knott after great work by Ioan Gwynne Davies and with scrums and lineouts even both sides had a spell of attacking each other and creating chances.
Winchester drew level through a catch and drive after a penalty awarded at scrum time and as Andover lost prop Samson Earle at the same time Winchester gained a little more traction.
To compound matters the resultant kick off was poorly executed by Andover and as Winchester countered they were given the freedom of the field to run in their second try in a minute.
Undeterred Andover roared back with a sparkling counter attack involving Waite, Stan North and Mitch Needham, but just as they looked certain to score, the final pass went to ground and Winchester survived.
They soon made Andover pay for their generosity scoring a second catch and drive, but Andover still looked in it. Tommy Lloyd looked bright and Ryan Mcgealy was tireless around the park.
But Andover then received a yellow card for a high tackle by Jake Dixon and the loss of his physical presence was soon felt.
Winchester again went for the corner and were again successful with their drive, but Andover still felt they could come back.
In the last play of the half however Andover once again made a silly error when all they needed to do was kick the ball out and Winchester went in with a commanding lead.
In the second half, try as they might, Andover could not get back into the game and struggled against an increasingly confident home side.
Callum Hollinshead and Evan Roll entered the fray and both provided bright spots for Andover, but in the end it became a rout as the team tired and Winchester were able to give the score an unrealistic feel in a difficult last ten minutes for the visiting side.
After the game Director of Rugby Andy Waite said ' You learn a lot about your side and it's character on days like this and what is important for us is how we react. Even today we showed at times we can play at this level and we have to focus on that and take it forward. We must also quickly learn though, that silly errors and lack of discipline will be punished ruthlessly and we have to concentrate more on looking after the ball, being more confident in what we do in attack and manage the game better.'
