UNBEATEN Westcliff surged to the top of the London & SE Premier Division standings with a convincing 97-7 win against Shelford.

The victory at the Gables was Westcliff’s fifth in succession.

And the stunning start has now surpassed the expectations of Westcliff’s director of rugby Rick Compton.

“To find ourselves after the first month of the season top of the table is a welcome surprise, but the lads’ performances have merited it,” said Compton.

“Shelford have not started the season well and are experiencing a testing run with injuries.

“It was a long day for them and one they will want to put behind them but, for our part, we were ruthless and clinical scoring 15 tries at this level, which is exceptional.

“The lads picked up where they had left off against Hertford in our last home game and that is very pleasing.”

And Compton has also been boosted by his side’s strength in depth.

“We have made significant changes to the side over the last few weeks and demonstrated that our strength in depth is as good as we thought,” said Compton.

“But the next test of our mettle will be the hardest yet when second-placed and title favourites Wimbledon visit the Gables on Saturday.”

Westcliff started superbly well at the weekend with winger Jake Spivey scoring a hat-trick inside the opening eight minutes.

Sam Brown then also touched down before Alex Hatton and Greg Bannister did likewise to put the hosts 40-0 in front.

Shelford soon replied with a try of their own, but Westcliff hit back with Spivey and Bannister scoring again to make it 52-7 at half-time.

After the break, Chris Marsh was the next to score for Westcliff before Josh Stol added a quickfire double to make it 71-7.

The hosts continued to dominate in the last quarter of the contest, with Spivey scoring his fifth try of the game.

Jack Jones again added the conversion before adding a try of his own.

And there was still time for the most popular try of the game as deputising tight-head prop Mat Makin crashed over in the closing action of a pleasing afternoon for Westcliff and their supporters.

Westcliff: Bannister, Brown, Stol, R. Smith, Spivey, J. Jones, H. Morrant, Dellas, B. Morrant, Meakin, Scogings, Dartnell, Vandermolen, Hatton, J. Smith

Replacements: Marsh, Maloney & Ansell