A late try from captain Zach Kinnaird gave Winchester a hard-earned, nailbiting victory over Warlingham – and kept his side in the London 2 South-West promotion race.

Winchester just managed to keep the top two in sight with the 18-17 success at North Walls.

Mistakes from both sides dominated the opening stages but Winchester claimed the lead when full back Seb Purvis, making his debut for the side, sprinted over under the posts. Conner Breen’s conversion made it 7-0, but not for long as Warlingham hit back with a converted try of their own.

Three more points from Breen gave Winch another brief taste of the lead which evaporated when the visitors put another seven points on the board.

Winchester went down to 14 players when fly-half Matt Burt was yellow carded but one more penalty from Breen meant there was just one point between the sides at half-time.

Winch forwards began to dominate the game but Warlingham held tight and even extended their lead with another penalty.

With three minutes left on the clock, and following a sequence of 11 pick-and-goes, flanker Kinnaird struck and his side held on to the whistle, despite giving away two penalty attempts which were both missed.