LAST Saturday in a pulsating contest , Oakwood sponsored Andover overcame high flying Old Georgians 40-29 last Saturday with a display of power, pace and determination that would have been at home in the division above.

Andover are finally reestablishing a settled set of backs to go with their ever reliable forwards and it’s starting to pay dividends, as for the second time in three outings Andover blasted higher league opponents.

One area of worry for the All Blacks is that they are still conceding too many points, but if they can sort that out things are looking promising.

Andover’s youthful squad contained no fewer than seven players of twenty or under, all academy products and of whom four are still under eighteen qualified.

This remarkable feat reflects the hard work put in at academy level over many years and with many more already making senior debuts, the future looks very bright indeed.

Andover playing up the slope began solidly with James Smith and Conor Green immediately showing great strength in defence.

After just four minutes however a loose kick allowed Old Georgian the space to open the scoring with a converted try.

Andover were unphased and their dominant scrum soon took control. From a series of penalties Andover marched upfield and once in kicking range Rich Rettalick opened Andover’s account with the boot.

For the next 20 minutes it was all Andover. Stubborn visitors defence began to creak under the incessant running of Nic Reed, Green and center Billy Pollard.

Old Georgian could only give away penalties to stem the tide and as James Monck and skipper Alex Hibdige were held up, Rettalick found himself in a forwards role to dive over for Andover’s first try which he converted.

Andover’s lineout was functioning well adding to the stream of scrum possession as the visitors struggled to make any impression.

The excellent Harrison Pape at half back put width on the ball and Alex Arter and Josh Gibbs made plenty of yards.

As Old Georgian reeled Andover scored a fine second try when more superb running from Green, saw new boy Euan Flett flash the ball to youngster Myles Wakeham, who out-sprinted the defence to score.

With half time approaching Andover looked in good shape, but they never make things easy for themselves conceding a converted try just before the break.

The second half began in similar fashion. Lack of concentration gave Old Georgians good field position and when Smith saw yellow they took advantage to grab a third try and the lead.

It wasn’t looking good for the home side, but as visitors pressed again some great defensive work by the excellent Fin Waite thwarted them and Andover had weathered the storm.

The home scrum in particular was so dominant that even with a man down Andover drove the visitors off a ball and that set the tone for the rest of the game.

Andover gained the upper hand and pressed repeatedly through their powerful forwards.

Youngster CJ Fiern joined the fray and when his powerful run was halted, scrum half Sean Higgins grabbed his first senior try to cap a fine performance, going over the line despite carrying a defender on his back. Rettalick again converted.

Colts back row Bryn Waite replaced the excellent Wayne Jones to add further pace to the Andover pack, before man of the match Wakeham grabbed his second in spectacular fashion.

A bulldozing run from Tom Waite saw the ball go through the hands, before Arter fed Wakeham for a lovely finish with Rettalick again on target.

The full back then stretched Andover’s lead with two good penalties before Old Georgians gained a glimmer of hope with a further try.

There was then a period of pressure when it seemed the visitors may score again and make the ending nervous, but a crunching tackle from Tom Waite ended not only the move, but sadly his opponents afternoon and Andover breathed again.

As if on a mission, it was the county hooker who provided Andover’s final try to seal things, diving over after another excellent Reed break, with Rettalick completing his twenty point haul.

Although Old Georgians did manage to grab one back themselves, it was too late and Andover comfortably saw the game out.

Afterwards director of rugby Andy Waite said : "We’ve been saying for some weeks we are making progress and now the challenge is to turn that into wins. The young lads are blending in well and to be honest we could have given ‘man of the match’ to half a dozen players such was the all round effort. These young lads have really lifted the experienced players so lets hope we can move away from danger and really enjoy the league run in."