Winchester duly made status count in yesterday's Hampshire Caffrey's Cup first round meeting with Portsmouth at an extremely wet and muddy Nuns Road.

The London 3 South West showed why they currently head the table with a first-half display in which they more than matched their hosts to be level 5-5.

However, Winchester revised their tactics at half-time and the London 1 side had much the better of the second period.

Three tries in that time were a direct result of the driving play from their dominant pack, while the final one probably owed much to the stamina this domination had sapped from the Portsmouth team.

Winchester coach, Kevin Gregory said: "In the second-half, we started playing to suit the conditions. I was quite pleased with the way it went considering the number of changes we had to make."

Gregory's opposite number, Ian Chandler replied: "We met Winchester on their pitch in wet conditions that suited them. We had the backs but forwards win matches."

Southampton suffered a twelve-try 74-12 beating at the hands of Havant but, considering the difficulties Southampton had in raising a side because of their injury crisis, this was possibly better than expected.

Skipper, Dave Griffiths was philosophical in defeat. "We kept going but couldn't compete with their pace," he reflected. "At least it wasn't a total disaster and we came through unscathed with injuries."

WINCHESTER: S Williams, J Hocking (capt), A Mort, T Griffin, M Hunter, J Easterbrook, T Pervin, R Stratford (rep M Vickers 67); A Ashwin, B Sadowski; S Ryan, R West, D Budge, M Summerfield; A McNamara. Rep: (not used) M Sullivan, C Richards

SCORERS: T: West (31), Pervin (48), Griffin (52), Stratford (66), Budge (82)

PORTSMOUTH: J Martin, D Needham, J Ford (capt), R Forster, J Pearce (rep I French 67), M Davies, M Howard, N Ettery (rep B Pearce HT); M Vine, D Wilding (rep D Thomas 75); N Styles, P Marks, S Cox, C Noble (rep J Drew 58); A Saunders A Saunders.

SCORERS: T: Noble (16). P: Styles (54)

SIN BIN: Pervin & Thomas (81)

REFEREE: Al Denham (Hampshire)