Eastleigh 29 Teddington 5

Eastleigh lost their lead at the top of London 3 South-West but they will not be bothered after notching up their third bonus point win in a row.

Farnham’s 55-0 pounding of Bognor puts them at the head of the table on points scored. However Eastleigh will take great satisfaction from their 29-5 victory over Teddington.

Coach Phil Osman asked them to come out of the blocks against a side seen as fellow top-of-the-table contenders but the visitors had Eastleigh defending, and giving away penalties, for the first 20 minutes.

However the home side scored the first points when fly half Phil Baldwin slotted home a drop goal, knowing they had penalty advantage.

With Eastleigh dominating the set piece, flanker Rich O’Donnell went over to increase the lead and a lucky bounce fell into the hands of winger Matt Blackman who took the ball over the line.

Prop Paul Taylor got Eastleigh’s third when the forwards mauled over in the second half and the bonus point try came from centre Jack Berry, who made a searing run and found a small gap to touch down.

Teddington never threw in the towel and were rewarded with a well worked try.

Eastleigh’s Richie O’Donnell and Jack Berry got special mentions for both attacking and defensive play but man of the match was Paul Taylor, who has had a few seasons out through injury.

Elsewhere in London 3 SW, Trojans’ increased work rate was rewarded with a precious away victory at United Services, Portsmouth.

It was the second time the Stoneham Lane side had faced Hampshire opponents in London SW3 in seven days.

However this time they held on to their early advantage and beat USP 39-21 to put behind them the previous week’s defeat at the hands of Eastleigh, who they dominated for the first 40 minutes.

Although the Portsmouth side had the edge in the scrums, Trojans forwards won enough ball to allow their backs to scythe through the USP defence time and again – notching up seven tries in the process.

Scrum half Neal Haworth went over in the first minute and fullback Jobi Kochanowski also touched down for a 17-6 half-time lead.

Trojans' backs were well supported by their forwards after the break and cut loose with a second try for man of the match Kochanowski, and a brace each for Ralph Keeble and Jake Bailey.

USP’s couple of tries, conversion and penalty came too late to threaten Trojans’ advantage.

Delighted coach Ed Ravenhill said: “We righted some wrongs on Saturday to some extent.

“The boys were very keen to have another crack at the things we have been trying in training.

“We kept playing some nice stuff and didn’t let our heads drop and kept punishing them which was nice to see.

“Our opponents had a little purple patch just before half time but we held out and our defence really came into its own and there were some some last minute, last-ditch efforts to stop tries on the line and you could see just how much we wanted it.

“The side responded very well from last weekend which is what I wanted.”