Alton mark caretaker coach Brian Saunders' final game in charge with a seven-try victory over bottom side London South Africa.

Alton bade caretaker coach Brian Saunders a fond farewell with a comfortable and occasionally dazzling victory over basement side London South Africa at a bitterly cold Anstey Park.

Saunders took his bow after watching his side notch its third straight win and with results going their way, Alton have jumped four places to the dizzy heights of fourth place in London 3.

It took nearly half an hour to get off the mark but Alton overcame their early fumbles and collywobbles to run in seven tries and capture a crucial bonus point. Ultimately, it was a pretty convincing showing from the home side and by the end Saunders was purring with satisfaction on the sidelines.

Defensively, Alton are a stronger, more structured unit than they were six weeks ago. More importantly perhaps, the much-liked Saunders leaves an Alton side that is starting to play with some fluency. The decision-making is sharper, the forwards are nastier, the backs are starting to flow and, as a whole, the team is defending as a unit.

Fourth place sounds good on paper but London 3 is desperately tight, with only seven points separating Alton from third-from-bottom Ellingham and Ringwood.

In any other year, a 50 per cent win record would guarantee at least mid-table obscurity, but the freakish nature of results means Alton are by no means out of the relegation dog-fight. Even Winchester, a point ahead of Alton in third, could yet be dragged kicking and screaming into the drop-zone.

For some weeks now London South Africa have probably resigned themselves to a return to the Surrey leagues following thirteen straight losses, a five-point deduction and a failure to bag even a single bonus point.

However, the car-crash statistics don't really tell the story of the Exiles' season. Essentially a social side, visa issues and injury have punished the affable South Africans so severely that they have effectively become a one-team club.

Their lack of depth showed during Saturday's game at Anstey Park. As with any South African side, they came with a hefty, aggressive pack and embraced every physical contact with gusto. They dominated the opening quarter, won plenty of ball and notched up plenty of phases but too often moves stalled and they couldn't maintain the continuity of their approach play. Scrum-half Pieter Gotgieter in particular showed his mettle early on with some probing runs and a decent toolbox of skills.  

But when the quicker, better-drilled Alton backs attacked the wide channels, they were far more imaginative and sharper in their execution and the Exiles' defence was often found wanting for pace and organisation.

Full-back Tyroan Derry, stand-out for the Exiles, missed with long-range shot at goal and it was his break that set up field position for an Exiles' driving maul that Alton somehow hauled down inches short.

But when Alton finally got their act together and Dan Forsyth rounded off a slick counter-attack to run in the game's opening try, it was perhaps inevitable that the floodgates would open.

They didn't but the door to the try-line was forced open regularly. Tim Salmon crossed for his first Senior try after Shane Watts' slashed his way through the heart of the Exiles' midfield and Luke Parratt spun over after Watts broke from a well-executed front peel at an attacking line-out and popped a scoring pass.

Denny trimmed the lead with a penalty but stand-off Steve Ott barged his way over from close range to give Alton the bonus point and an unassailable 24-3 lead shortly after half time.

The Exiles' forwards' efforts were rewarded shortly afterwards, however, when Devan Swart burrowed over from a driving maul, a weapon they used to good effect throughout the game.

Normal service was resumed when Christo Arundel's break and replacement full-back John McHarg's pass sent Jimmy Gay over for a captain's try. Winston Carter foraged into the bottom of a ruck to cross for Alton's sixth try and Will Ford completed the scoring after the Alton pack had driven the Exiles off their own put-in at a five-metre scrum.

Ott slotted five conversions and his 15-point match haul was a deserved reward for a commanding display at stand-off.

Job done - for coach and team - but Saturday's trip to Watchetts to take on second-placed Camberley will give Alton an altogether better idea of how far they have come under Saunders' eye.

Alton: Salmon (McHarg, 51); O'Connor, Forsyth, Richards, Gill; Ott, Arundel; Osborne (Happel, 42), Parratt, Gay ©; Ford, Oliphant; Watts, Watkins (Carter, 51), Baker.

Tries: Forsyth (27), Salmon (30), Parratt (33), Ott (45), Gay (53), Carter (68), Ford (79).
Conversions: Ott (5).

Yellow card: Baker (60).

London South Africa: Denny; Benson, Weise, Cockeram, Prevost; Vock ©, Potgieter; Rix, du Plessis, Dickson; Sauer, Robson; Howell, Brown, Swart. Reps. Dearmer, Wise, Connelly.

Try: Swart (49)
Penalty: Denny (37).

H-T: 17-3.

Referee: Wayne Morris (Hampshire Society).

Other London 3SW results:

Ellingham & Ringwood 14 - 23 Old Alleynians

Fordingbridge 18 - 8 Winchester

Old Wimbledonians 0 - 57 Camberley

Petersfield 24 - 58 Teddington

Sandown & Shanklin 12 - 13 Old Wellingtonians