Promoted Old Mid-Whitgiftian finished their season in fine style on Saturday, beating London Three South West champions Gosport and Fareham 33-10 at Lime Meadow Avenue.

Old Mids, who finished second, set about their opponents in determined fashion right from the outset and were soon deep in Gosport territory with No.8 Mark Butterworth and centre Andy Dean prominent in a move which was stopped just short.

After four minutes, good work by Dean Gardner and Russell Jones set up fly half Anthony Braithwaite to release centre Rhys Millar who went on one of his mazy runs to outsprint the defence and score the first try.

He converted this himself to put the Old Boys 7-0 in the lead.

After 18 minutes, Gosport got into the home half for the first time but their attack was repelled by a huge tackle by Dean which turned over possession.

Two minutes later Mids were penalised for holding on and centre Richard Lloyd kicked a fine goal across the wind to make it 7-3.

Back came Midwives and Millar restored the seven point margin with a penalty after the visitors were offside.

The home side continued to press with the forwards dominating possession.

Lock Ikay was in excellent form and flanker Kieran Burnett was everywhere.

Scrum half James Grice provided quick service for Braithwaite to show his talents as a lively and threatening presence.

Gosport defended stoutly as Mids mounted a series of attacks and the visitors then broke away and seemed likely to score when full back James Orchard brought off a wonderful tackle to deny them.

Just before half time Braithwaite broke cleverly in midfield and his kick ahead was brilliantly gathered by winger Ian Knott who beat the defence on the outside and went round to score near the posts.

Millar converted off a post to leave Mids 17-3 ahead at the interval.

The hosts continued to attack after the break but promising positions were lost through kicking away possession.

They continued to press, however, and after a passage of scintillating rugby, when they spread the ball first right and then left, Ian Knott was denied a second try by a fine Gosport tackle.

The visitors were then caught offside and Millar put Mids 20-3 in front with a penalty after 45 minutes.

Gosport broke away on the hour and after they had missed an excellent opportunity through not using the space on the outside they got a try when winger Pat Mulholland, in a scoring position, was prevented unfairly and the referee awarded a penalty try.

This was converted by Lloyd to bring the score to 20-10.

After 67 minutes Gosport were penalised for holding on and Millar made it 23-10.

Mids now ran the ball at every opportunity but some over-elaboration resulted in dropped passes and frustration until Grice and Braithwaite combined well to give the powerful Dean space to run in the try he threatened all afternoon.

Millar converted and closed the scoring deep in injury time with another penalty.

Skipper Matt Higgins is well pleased that his team, after a poor start in the autumn, have done little wrong since then and capped the season with this fine display.

Team in photo:

Back row (standing from L to R): Mick Jones (coach), Mark Dean (manager), Anthony Braithwaite, Iain Munro, Dean Gardner, Ikay, Sam Timms, Will Flint, Russell Jones, Adam Stammers, Nick Hamilton, Robbie Davis, David Stanton, Matt Hoyles, Helen Dean (physio), Paul Hodges (director of rugby). Front row (seated from L to R) Ian Knott, Rowan Newman, Andrew Dean, Mark Butterworth, Matt Higgins (capt), Rhys Millar, James Orchard, James Grice, Kieran Burnett. Missing / unavailable:Dan Crouch (vice capt), James Macleod, Mark Handley, David Matthews, Tom Peters, Ben Bateman and Joe O'Keefe.