Petersfield 19 Winchester 46: PETERSFIELD fell to defeat against top-of-the-table Winchester on Saturday.

The visitors scored the first try of the game when a penalty set them up for their first scoring opportunity with a lineout in Field’s 22.

This was swiftly followed by Winchester’s second try and Field were on the ropes.

The visitors then scored a third try at the start of the second quarter.

Field responded well and were awarded a five-metre scrum. The hosts spun the ball quickly through the hands to Aaron Cartwright on the left wing. With the line beckoning, the winger was tackled into touch in goal without grounding the ball. The referee deemed the challenge to be high and immediately awarded a penalty try before issuing a yellow card to the tackler.

Despite their man advantage through to half time, Field could not breach the Winchester line and went in at the break 17-7 down.

Winchester scored two converted tries in the opening ten minutes of the second half to secure their four-try bonus point.

A break by Tom Franks resulted in the home team’s second try, which was ably converted by Josh Haslett.

Winchester then ran in three more tries in the space of ten minutes.

Field scored their third try when Franks surged up the middle of the pitch. When Franks was eventually felled, he fed the ball to Seb Tuff, who finished with aplomb under the posts. Haslett missed his conversion as the ball shaved the outside of the left post.