A MUDDY Andover Rugby Club secured a potentially vital bonus point in their battle to avoid relegation during their 23-19 away defeat to London Cornish on Saturday.

However the All Blacks remain in the London Two South West relegation zone after relegation rivals Weybridge Vandals picked up a bonus point of their own in their low scoring defeat to Winchester.

Playing on a wet, cold and boggy pitch, Andover began the game well with some early impressive running from Ollie Lindridge and Matt Moore.

With just two minutes gone the pair charged forwards and when Cornish killed the resulting ruck, Charlie Waite slotted a penalty to give Andover the lead.

Cornish responded well and just 10 minutes later took the lead with a well worked converted try form a lineout.

Andover were not overawed however and a deft offload from Tom Erskine to Moore forced Cornish to concede a penalty, which Waite struck to put the All Blacks back in contention.

Soon after the young full back scored a try of breathtaking quality in the conditions, sprinting 80 meters and leaving three desperate defenders in his wake as Andover retook the lead.

Cornish calmly chipped away at Andover despite some fine work from the backs, led by Alex Kane.

Three successful penalties gave the home side back the lead and when Niko Rowe received a team yellow card for the number of penalties, things looked bleak for Andover.

Despite this the All Blacks held the score until half-time, but they were caught out after the break with Cornish scoring a neatly taken converted try.

Andover roared back to life and launched an onslaught with penetrating runs from Craig Dunsdon and skipper Simon Preece.

Andover piled on the pressure and such was their dominance that Cornish tried to kick a long range penalty rather than try and take the Andover forwards on.

Twenty minutes in and Waite reduced the arrears with a fine penalty after good work from James Monck and Billy Pollard.

With wings Ben Hall and Stefan Long making inroads, it was a race against the clock for the visitors to get back into the game.

Waite and Kieran Jenvey both had good chances and Leon Taylor was desperately unlucky to be penalised for crossing when certain to score, but Cornish stubbornly refused to yield.