Old Walcountians’ slender hopes of making the promotion play-offs ended as local rivals Chipstead completed a Surrey One double over them on Saturday.

The Old Boys’ shortcomings in retention of possession and use of the ball were exposed by a Chipstead XV which excelled in these departments.

A long penalty saw Chipstead take a sixth-minute lead and that was followed by a superbly-executed try after the visitors kept the ball alive through five phases of play.

When they banged over a second penalty, in the 23rd minute, the match already looked out of Walcountians’ reach.

The Old Boys finally got onto the scoreboard six minutes before half-time when fly-half Chris Mockford rifled over a penalty.

From the kick-off, Walcountians went straight back onto the offensive as number eight Gavin Welsh hammered his way upfield after fielding the ball. Centre Dan Crompton opened a hole in the Chipstead defence and found centre Sam Naylor who finished the move with a surging run in from the 10m line.

Play-off chasing Chipstead upped the pace again and scored another try just before half-time to leave Walcountians 10 points adrift.

Walcountians had the advantage of the slope in the second half but were still unable to make much of an impression against a well-drilled Chipstead XV, and the only further score they achieved was a second penalty from the boot of Chris Mockford in the 29th minute.

Walcountians’ remaining games: April 10 Croydon (a), 24 Teddington (h).