A 26 – 12 win against a streetwise Chichester side keeps Winchester in the top three of the league. 

They now have three hard fought victories despite an appalling injury record that struck once again when fly-half Alex Mawdsley left the field with a shoulder injury.

Chichester’s slick offloading game saw outside centre Joel Andrews touch down within minutes of kick off. An easy conversion was followed by some dominant set piece work. The Chichester scrum was clearly too much for Winchester and their well-oiled lineout threatened to starve Winchester of primary possession.

But that was where Winchester stepped up. Forwards coach Chris Searle “We managed their pace and countered the scrum threat. Our youngsters in the backs, Will Taylor and debutante Nick Moore grew into the game. Our pack, our carriers and our back three had a brilliant game!”

In the first forty minutes half backs Mawdsley, Connor Breen and full back Tom Fieldsend kicked for territory, keeping Chichester locked in their own half. They gave away penalties under pressure from Winchesters kick chase; two were converted by Mawdsley. Such was Winchester’s dominance of the aerial battle that when half time came Chichester had only a single point lead.

In the first 10 minutes of the second half Winchester won the game. Chichester came out fired up but Fieldsend’s superb kick down the touchline saw Winchester into the red zone. The line out, simply structured and cleanly taken by Patrick Dunne, gave possession to the pack and George Porter carried the ball over under the posts; a simple conversion followed. From the restart, the ball was collected by the indefatigable Matt Golding who ran 50 metres before being taken down illegally. Mawdsley kicked deep and another line out take by Wilf Nicholson saw the ball patiently worked into the hands of wing Tom Banks who scored beneath the posts. 

Chichester came back, kicking the ball deep and their pack scored as for the first time Winchester lost their composure. Mawdsley was down injured, and Fieldsend moved to fly half. An eight-point lead looked a little frail as Winchester restructured their team. 

But this is a well drilled Winchester side and they continued to hit hard and often, competing at the breakdown, forcing turnover ball. Prop Ben Turner was denied a third try but Fieldsend crowned the win with two further penalties as Winchester earned yet another fully deserved victory.