Winchester’s hopes of victory over leaders London Cornish in London 2 South West were crushed in the dying minutes of a nailbiting clash in which the lead changed hands five times.

The 27-26 home defeat was a bitter pill to swallow for Winch who have one London 2 South-West victory and two losing bonus points to show for three courageous performances.

Disappointed coach Andy Fields said: “To borrow a football term, I’m gutted.

“At times we played really well, and the attitude was outstanding throughout. But we let ourselves down with a few basic errors like the ones that gifted Cornish their first two tries. We must cut these errors out.”

Winch held the advantage at half-time with a 20-15 lead.

They went ahead after just three minutes when captain Jake Hisock touched down. Johnny Morris kicked the conversion and followed up with a couple of penalties before Greg Sullivan struck with a try just before the break.

Winchester’s Jack Tomlinson was yellow carded in the second half but Morris kept his side in the game with a couple of penalties as the score continued to yo-yo.

Winchester’s Chris Keegan was sin-binned with just 12 minutes left on the clock and Cornish took advantage. From another penalty, for an accidental high tackle, they kicked to the corner and touched down from a maul.

Spectator Dai Henley, who played for Winchester more than 400 times and hung up his boots in 1993, said: “I can’t remember a game when we played better and didn’t win.”