Locksheath Pumas 7pts, Alton 37pts

IT wasn’t the try fest of last week but it was still a competent performance from Alton against a side whose recent record belies their ability.

And it proved to be double joy for Alton as the match counted as a Hampshire 1 league match and the semi-final of the Hampshire Plate.

The Pumas started the match with real intent, keeping Alton pinned in their own half for most of the first 20 minutes of the game. Eventually the ‘Red Bellies’ worked out how to deal with their hosts and took the match into their 22-metre area. And the Pumas were adjudged on 22 minutes to have sealed off a tackle and stand-off Joe Gwyther put the first three points on the board from the resultant penalty.

And six minutes later, from a lineout, Jez Powell fed his fellow back-rower Matt Sellstrom who set up the move for centre Bren Sumner to score close to the posts, giving Gwyther a straight forward conversion for a 10-0 lead.

Three minutes later Alton seized full control as they recycled the ball from a breakdown on the halfway line, and good link-up play resulted in Gwyther powering over the line for a try he converted for a 17-0 half-time lead.

Early in the second half the Pumas showed just how good they can be when they scored a well-worked converted try to cut the gap to 17-7. But this only served to galvanise Alton and, with the wind at their backs, they roared back into the home side’s half where a Puma was deemed to have lifted an Alton player in the tackle and Gwyther put over his second penalty of the day to increase his side’s lead to 20-7.

The Pumas’ defence largely held firm throughout the second half but, eventually, Alton scrum-half George Pantry finished off a fine move from a lineout, again set up by Powell, with Gwyther adding the extras for a 27-7 lead.

Fifteen minutes from time, a yellow card resulted in a period of uncontested scrumaging and Alton’s experienced No8, Tony Hopkin, helped himself to the bonus point try. And seven minutes later Sellstrom made the result secure by scoring an unconverted try from another lineout.

The win keeps Alton top of Hampshire 1 while they must wait for the result of the other Hampshire Plate semi-final between Hampshire Premier side Fareham Heathens and Ellingham & Ringwood, who are currently third in Hampshire 1, to see who they play in the final.

After a break in league fixtures this weekend, leaders Alton host title rivals Farnborough at Anstey Park on January 26.