HAMPSHIRE'S hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the county plate competition were blown away in a ten-try rout at the hands of neighbours Dorset and Wilts.
Bryanston and London Irish schoolboy Ben Stevenson ran the show putting winger Phil Carr in for four tries while Bournemouth scrum-half Sam Hardcastle grabbed a hat-trick for the home side on Saturday.
But it wasn't always one-way traffic as Hampshire started the brighter and often punctured the Dorset and Wilts defence, although the tries did not follow.
Instead it was Hardcastle who opened the scoring on 15 minutes with his first of three scores, followed by centre Karl Brant and hooker Rob Bongard.
Winchester lock Alex Hayes responded with a score from a rolling maul with Gosport and Fareham's Jon Wood converting.
Just before half-time Winchester fly-half Andy Ashwin, pictured, made an incisive break to score an unconverted try for Hampshire making the half-time score 26-12.
But the second-half was all one-way with Hampshire's only consolation try coming from centre David Byett.
The result leaves Hampshire at the bottom of the table, and Dorset & Wilts in second place.
Dorset & Wilts 64 Hampshire 17
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