There will be no return trip for a Hampshire club to Twickenham next May as all three county sides took their leave from the Intermediate Cup at the fourth round, although Portsmouth came within two minutes of a place in this week's draw.

In a thrilling encounter with London 2 North leaders Old Albanians, it came down to the crucial sin-binning of second-row forward Chris Goldsmith, which reduced the visitors to 14 for the last ten minutes of the game as they led 28-25.

It was a particularly good effort for the Rugby Camp side to recover from trailing 19-3 against a powerful side, containing many of the players that took Cam-berley up the leagues in the 1990s.

That was before Matt Gronow used his pace to close the arrears.

That started a period of Ports-mouth domination with Gavin Bunker scoring his first try for the first XV and Andy Phillips giving Ian Chandler's side a 25-19 lead before Albanians replied with two penalties.

Neil Styles slotted a third to re-engage a three-point lead before the grandstand finish.

Goldsmith's absence, for handling in a ruck, meant the scrum was weakened and from one on Portsmouth's 22-yard line with two minutes remaining, the ball slipped out of the unmanned side, only for the openside flanker to collect and score the match winning try.

"There is no way we are blaming Goldie (Goldsmith) for what happened," expressed Chandler, "but if we had a clear 15 on the field throughout, we would have won the game.

"But it was a fantastic game of rugby, we were just done for at the death, which was disappointing. It just showed that if they are top of Two North and we are fifth in Two South, we can very much hold our own."

Tottonians came up against their biggest test and, despite going down by a wholesome-looking 46-10 scoreline which wiped out their season-long unbeaten record, they came out with heads held high from a side two divisions higher than themselves.

The visitors has their fair share of possession, but Thurrock's combative style in defence was too much for them to break, while the Essex side took all over the chances they presented themselves to the tune of six tries.

Paul Brading collected a pass from fly-half Martin Goodall and went over under the posts in the second half after Paul Goodall had given Totts hope in the first with a penalty.

"It would be fair to say that, on the day, the better side won," said a Tottonians' spokesperson.

Winchester's run also came to a close, but they were more than competitive in losing to Two South leaders Tunbridge Wells 24-12.

Adrian Mort and Ian Banks crossed to keep the county capital men in sight of the Kent side, but their strength was too much.

"We can concentrate on the league now," said the Nuns Road club.