Baseley shines for rampant Winchester

Alton 7, Winchester 34

Taking advantage of their woefully weak opponents at Anstey Park last Saturday, Winchester went on a second- half try spree that made the travelling supporters eager for more of the same.

Ably led by their vocal and influential skipper, Richard Knight, the visitors softened Alton up when playing uphill in the first half and completed the job in fine style with four second half tries.

Ben Baseley got things going before the break and applied the coup de grace later on. He showed just what a valuable acquisition he is at number eight, not only injecting urgency into the forward play, but also providing another lineout option.

Alton simply had no answer to Winchester's scrummage power or the precision of their lineout work. On a dull and dank day the visitors, initially struggling with a soapy ball, took time to impose any pattern on the play. But once the pack dug in, the result was inevitable. Winchester laid siege to the Alton line, and on another day might have been awarded at least two penalty tries had their ball control made the hosts' offences more obvious.

So it was left to the persevering Baseley to light the fire with a fine try as he broke away round the fringe of a ruck. Dan Kinsey tacked on the extras.

But from the restart a handling error presented loose ball to Alton number eight, Adam Baker, who had a simple run in to score. In an instant it was 7-7. But that was the only major error all game. And when the hosts' kicking gave the Winchester backs something to do, Dan Waddington was rock steady and was well supported by Ed Ravenhill, whose pace and vision became more than a handful.

The visitors bided their time well and went into the break 10-7 up courtesy of a Kinsey penalty. Whether or not they had managed three breakfast biscuits at dawn, Winchester played more impressively still with the slope in their favour. The lineout work was imperious and the scrummage pushed Alton back at will.

The hosts proved their own worst enemies with second row man Ambler sin-binned for applying the boot to Dan Kinsey's head while the latter was prone.

It surely made no difference to the outcome, however, as the Winchester pack was irresistible. Lock forward Campbell Ettinger, the sort of imposing figure to be avoided on dark nights, had his best game of the season so far, his bull-dozing runs and slick ball presentation a feature of play in the loose.

And conditions ensured mistakes aplenty from the increasingly feeble Alton outfit. From one such, Ed Ravenhill pounced for an easy try which Kinsey converted. On the hour it became 24-7 to the visitors, following a sniping try by scrum half Scott Turner, converted by the unflappable Kinsey. Two late Winchester tries made Alton's day thoroughly miserable.

They were the inevitable product of total forward domination. Try stopping tight-head prop Adie Mort from a rolling maul at close range!

It was entirely appropriate, though, that the final word went to Ben Baseley. He was outstanding from first to last. Controlling the ball at the back of the scrum, Baseley got the pushover score that thanked his colleagues for a job well done. Winchester will meet stronger sides than Alton, but showed that with minds on the job they will be hard to beat.

Winchester play host to third-placed Tottonians tomorrow (2nd), kick-off 3pm, hoping to cement their position as early league leaders.