Andover made the long journey to Chichester last Saturday for their first ever league game against the Sussex club, and despite a topsy turvey performance managed to come away with a valuable bonus point.

Played in perfect conditions Andover were caught with a sucker punch from the start where lack of concentration led to a first minute opener for the home side.

Andover recovered well however and just six minutes later drew level when man of the match Ryan McGealy caught a lineout and put Tom Erskine in for a try well converted by Matt Ryan.

Andover continued to press and were rewarded with a penalty in front for a high tackle, but the referee strangely reversed his decision and Chichester accepted the let off to punish Andover with a try as Andover's kicking game began to cause them issues.

On 35 minutes another loose kick and poor chase led to a counter for Chichester to stretch the lead but just moments later Ryan was again successful with a penalty to put Andover back in range.

From the resulting kick off however Andover were caught out not clearing a simple opportunity, an error which gave them a mountain to climb in the second half.

Andover did give it a real go after the break however enjoying lots of possession from scrum and lineout, where the throwing of Fin Waite was excellent. Callum Barber Starkey was again superb around the park and Stanley North was proving to be a menace in midfield.

After fifteen minutes Ryan again narrowed the deficit with a further penalty, but just when Andover looked like they could really get back into it they were again caught napping by a counter, and soon after an error at a lineout saw the home side stretch their lead further.

Andover now knew what they had to do to get anything from the game and they set about the task well.

Skipper Alex Hibdige charged down a clearance to give Andover their second try, again converted by Ryan, and although Chichester struck again as Andover took more chances, the adventurous spirit soon paid off.

From a tap penalty the superb CJ Feirn smashed through the defence for an all important third try to give Andover a shot at a bonus point.

Chichester did score again but were now largely on the back foot trying hard not to allow Andover the prize they were after, but 'The All Blacks' had other ideas.

From another excellent catch and drive Andover went through the phases and after an excellent carry form Nic Reed, Ioan Gwynne Davies fed Stan North and the mighty centre powered over to give Andover the point they thoroughly deserved.

Afterwards Director of Rugby Andy Waite said: "Of course we are disappointed overall because this was a game we felt we could get more from, but we did show some terrific spirit and we are starting to score more tries which shows progress. We will work hard again in training this week to address a couple of areas of our performance, but in the end bonus points like this are vital and we managed the situation well."