Centre Sam Bullett admitted Storm Boelo played its part in his side's third Regional Two South Central defeat of the season at Havant on Saturday - but the squad have already moved on.

The National League Two East side’s second string ran out 35-8 winners in monsoon conditions at Hooks Lane to leave head coach George Pickersgill’s men wondering what might have been.

A try from fit-again hooker Robbie Dones - added to a Harry Weatherall penalty - had made it 14-8 at the halfway point and, with their set-piece firing, Vandals were well in the game.

But as the weather worsened, Havant’s forwards laid the foundation for skipper Rory Penfold’s second half opener before their backs twice profited from tired Vandals mistakes in the final quarter.

“In the conditions, it was quite hard to play our usual style of attacking rugby,” said Vandals’ man of the match Bullett.

“We had a discussion at half time and very much went with a kicking mindset, but in hindsight we could have taken the reigns off and thrown the ball around a bit.

He added: “Gutted with the loss. We’re a winning side, with a winning mentality. We want to win, but can at least take some positives.

“Our set-piece, which we have been working on, worked well and our discipline was very much improved.

"It is what it is. We live to fight another day and we focus again on next week.”

On the up: Vandals' lineout functioned well at Havant on Saturday and disrupted the hosts on many occasions

Pickersgill's men have made an encouraging start to life at Step Six in the rugby pyramid, scoring impressive wins over Guildford and Winchester already.

They take a rest after this week's visit of Wimborne, before a run of games against teams around them in the table, including Twickenham, bottom of the table Camberley, Bognor and Petersfield.

With many of the first team's walking wounded expected back in action during that spell, supporters will hope to see Vandals begin to climb the table.

Bullett anticipates a response sooner rather than later, starting this week.

“We’ve just had two losses on the spin and that is going to have an impact on any team," added Bullett.

“It’s about how we bounce back and that will be the strong message coming from the captains and coaches.

“It is a new league. It’s a tough league, but we are treating every game with respect and we will give it our all.”

Welcome back: Hooker Robbie Dones, centre, returned to action at the weekend as the Vandals forwards put in a hard shift at Hooks Lane