Late blow rocks Havant

Will Knight could not contain his frustration at the Hooks Lane outfit’s failure to press home their advantage.

The head coach said: ‘It was another game where we were the better team but didn’t finish our opponents off.

‘We played the better rugby but allowed them to stay in it and nick the win at the end.

‘It was a war of attrition with both teams having spells of battering each others line.

‘The rain fell continuously, the pitch was boggy and by the end it was pitch black.’

Havant started well and soon established a 10-0.

Ben Brierley scored a try, while Joel Knight added the conversion and also kicked a penalty.

The home side scored a converted try on the stroke of half-time to leave Havant with a 10-7 advantage at the break.

Joel Knight quickly added a penalty soon after the restart and for the next 30 minutes the two teams slugged it out in the mud.

Chiswick nicked the win five minutes from the end when, following a series of rucks, they dived over for a converted try under the posts.

Fareham Heathens maintained their excellent form in Hampshire one with a 14-12 win over Sandown & Shanklin at Cams Alders.

Bernie Rhodes was impressed with the way his team stuck to their game in difficult conditions.

‘The wind and rain made it almost impossible but we never felt we were going to lose,’ said the Heathens head coach.

‘In the second half, playing against the wind, we remained stoic.

‘It was pretty much old-style rugby in the mud.

‘We dug in when we needed to and defended superbly.’

Heathens opened the scoring through Ryan Keary, who crossed the whitewash after chasing down a clever box-kick from Dan Lee.

Cam Guthrie added the conversion before Sandown hit back with an unconverted try of their own.

Before the break, Rikki Curtis burst through a series of tackles to add a second Heathens try with Guthrie adding the extra points.

Brave defence from the hosts kept Sandown out until the final seconds when they grabbed a converted try.

Locks Heath Pumas came unstuck with a 38-0 defeat at league leaders Bognor.