Winchester'S new head coach, Mike Marchant, is looking forward to taking charge this season in succession to Kevin Gregory, writes Tom Morris.

Marchant's ambition has been clear since he started at the club in 1995. After coaching the youth sides at Winchester he progressed to being part of the county set up.

He's been involved with county sides at under 16, 17, 18 and 21 age groups and had two successful tours to Italy and Spain. He's also had involvement with the England U19 side in a management capacity.

Marchant clearly has an eye for talented youth. "There are some great young players who will be pushing for places in the next few seasons. But if a player is good enough at 18 I'm not scared to give him a go," he says.

With only a top seven finish in the league ensuring survival, the season will be as tough as ever, and Marchant is not a believer in setting his goals low.

"You have to want to win the league. If you don't want to be the best then you start halfway down," is his view.

He's keen to remind people that being in London Division 1 means Winchester are playing among the top five per cent of clubs in the land and this season he hopes to reach a new level of performance.

Having struggled to hold on to their place in the division last season, Marchant has been putting a new ethos in place amongst the players.

"I hope to get a playing strategy that allows the players to express themselves on the field. Doing this means there is enjoyment and with that come good results," he says.

"We have a great atmosphere at the club. We want people to come here, develop their game and have a wonderful time."

* Winchester face a delayed start to their league season. Tomorrow's (Sept 7th) scheduled opener against Thanet Wanderers has been postponed due to the Kent side having to play a cup game.

Instead they'll now begin with an away fixture against Sutton & Epsom on September 14th.

A BELOW- STRENGTH Winchester played some encouraging rugby but failed to contain a committed Portsmouth side in a friendly last Saturday.

A blend of youth and experience busted a gut to try to halt the visitors' powerful pack but struggled to cope with their superior power.

Marchant will have been pleased with performances by the youngsters in the side, who continue their steep learning curve into adult rugby.

With little ball available for the backs it was a case of defending the gain line as aggressively as possible. Inevitably the line was broken and Portsmouth ran in eight tries.

Winchester did respond with two of their own either side of half time and showed on occasions what they were capable of. The scorers were newcomers Anthony Lintern and Steve Rankin, both converted by Andy Ashwin. But with no sustained possession the game became a valuable defensive exercise.

Marchant said,: "It's a disappointing result but losing this game is a timely reminder of how we will need to perform when we pick the starting line up for our first league fixture."

He'll be without the experience of former skipper Rolf Stratford, who'll be out of action for several months following a knee operation.