Alton 21 Andover 83

In a wonderful display of attacking rugby Andover put struggling Alton to the sword at their own Anstey Park ground last Saturday.

Bottom side Alton expected Andover to be difficult, but the manner in which they swept them aside must have shocked them as the 'All Blacks' ran in twelve tries overall.

There were some sparkling performances led by Rich Rettalick with a personal 33-point haul and both Bryn Waite and Stan North with a hat trick of tries each, but it was so much more than the headlines, as the whole squad ran Alton ragged throughout. 

Andover began as they meant to go on when after a fine break from Harry Scobie and North fed Bryn Waite who broke tackles to open the scoring. 

Soon after a comedy moment from Nic Reed, stopping before scoring as he thought he'd heard a whistle, was rescued by a fine piece of work by Tom Waite that gave Retallick his first points from a penalty.

From the restart the impressive Matt Green took the ball and the equally impressive Jake Harwood and Niko Rowe fed Bryn Waite for an almost carbon copy of his first.

Moments later brilliant hands again from Harwood, North and Callum Hollingshead put in Rowe for a beauty and then not to be outdone by his brother Fin Waite dotted down from a pushover scrum.

Andover were unstoppable and soon after great work from Max Graham, Harrison Pape was on the end of another Harwood piece of magic to finish superbly.

Next up it was Harwood himself who finished fine work from Rowe and Scobie, but just before the break Alton showed some resistance with a nice score of their own, after Andover lost the unfortunate Hollingshead to injury.

After the break Andover started well but Alton pegged them back further with another score. 

Andover woke up and went on the rampage with North finishing two moves involving some breathtaking handling.

The loss of Graham to injury saw Harvey Maloney make his seasonal debut and before long he had joined in setting Rettalick up after an incredible Stan Pearson break. 

In defence Callum Burge was outstanding and that set a platform for another incredible handling move that saw North finish his third but Alton again bit back with another try.

From the Kick off Bryn Waite caught a loose ball and galloped away to score his third, before Rettalick scored his second to add to his penalty and ten conversions.

Afterwards Director of rugby Andy Waite said 'After last week's disappointment the lads were determined to bounce back and they did it in some style. Great attitude, brilliant skill, loads of pace, a real joy to watch. So good all round, it was impossible to pick a man of the match."