Winchester kept in the London 2 South-West promotion hunt by beating Hampshire opponents Portsmouth 39-5 at North Walls.

Winch were 10-0 up after an unexciting first half – wing Tom Forster crossed in the opening minutes and second row Rob Rees got the ball to ground in injury time.

However, Winch came out a different side after the break as they went in search of their third bonus point win on the bounce.

Captain Jake Hiscock’s try was followed by a second from Rees, which brought up the extra point, before Hiscock crossed the line again.

Number 8 Matt Lown went over in the corner and made his way to the posts to make the conversion easier for Connor Breen, who kicked nine points during the game.

Portsmouth got some reward for battling to the end with an injury-time try.

Winchester head coach Andy Fields said: “We’re a good team, but not yet a very good one.

“To become that, we must be out-thinking the opposition as well as out-playing them. We’ll need to be at our very best, and not least in our heads, for Warlingham away next Saturday.”

Second-placed London Cornish got back to winning ways – they defeated Effingham & Leatherhead 25-6 following their shock defeat at the hands of Warlingham the week before.