TUNBRIDGE WELLS enjoyed a day out at the seaside as they went on an eight-try romp at relegated Gosport.
Their rivals for the runners-up spot, Havant, lost narrowly at Cobham but earned two points to narrow the gap to the play-off place to three points again.
When these two sides met at St Marks before Christmas, Wells came within three points of racking up a century.
And within 18 minutes down on the coast, Wells had scored four tries, through Nick Doherty – whose powerful running earned him two of them – Charlie Dagwell and skipper Lee Campion.
Despite a rampant back row led by the outstanding Doherty, there were to be no more scores in the first half.
But after the interval Wells upped the tempo with Doherty and Hayden Pengelly wreaking havoc as they made huge gains up the middle of the pitch.
Further tries followed from left wing Jake Jones on 42 minutes, silky running centre Dylan Barkas on 63 minutes, a hat-trick score for Doherty on 69 minutes and a deserved reward for Pengelly’s strong running on 79 minutes.
The hosts breached the normally impressive Wells defence for a try wide out on the right, but the hosts were able to take their foot off the pedal and rest some players.
This could be crucial in the run-in ahead of home games against Dover and Maidstone as Wells keep pushing to secure second place in London Division One.
