THERE were no early Christmas present for Andover on Saturday as a clinical first half performance helped KCS Old Boys to a 37-22 victory.

Andover went into the game full of hope after their recent run of good form, but in the first 30 minutes were given a lesson in clinical finishing from which they just could not recover.

Andover were wasteful with possession and KCS were equally lethal with the little they had, moving the ball quickly and accurately to turn the Andover defence.

Playing uphill in the first half Andover began brightly with Callum Staff orchestrating things at ten.

Stefan Long went close with an early break, but the warning was soon there as KCS turned the ball over and raced away, to finally touch down in the corner.

Ten minutes later the visitors struck again.

From a debatable scrum penalty Old Boys attacked quickly and whilst Andover slept, scored a fine try, this time converted.

Andover came straight back but did not keep the ball well enough and once again KCS fed off the scraps to score.

Andover rallied well and after a spell of real pressure Staff sent a long pass to Charlie Waite who offloaded Long to score.

KCS hit back after another poor handling error.

Matt Moore were was yellow carded it seemed Andover might be in for a real hiding and just before the break KCS seemed to confirm that, with a fifth try of the half.

Honest exchanges at half-time led to some tactical alterations from Andover, as they sought to show the large watching crowd that they were a capable side.

Andover kept the ball better and when they took a scrum against the head with just seven forwards they suddenly looked in charge.

Waite added a penalty but Andover then gifted the visitors the three points with some poor discipline.

Another spell of pressure saw KCS take a yellow card for a professional foul on Jack Stott.

Kieran Jenvey took advantage, diving over, converted by Waite.

From the kick-off however, yet another frustrating error gifted the visitors a further penalty which undid much of the hard work.

Andover soon pressed again and after some fine work by Jenvey and Stott were again on the KCS line.

This time there was no mistake as Simon Preece forced his way over and with Waite on target again.

With Jordan Gray rampaging in the loose, Andover threw everything at KCS, but poor handling and decision making cost them, leaving Andover without a bonus point.

Coach Andy Waite said: “It was a very poor performance by us in the first half in particular and we can’t hide from that.

“It was a bad day at the office and we just have to put it behind us and go again in the New Year.”