OLD Gravesendians had a welcome break from their fractious league campaign by travelling to Hellingly in the EDF Energy Junior Vase on Saturday and coming home convincing 67-5 winners.

The Sussex One side had no answer to Old Gs’ pace in the backs and were eventually overwhelmed as the visitors’ superior fitness also came into play.

There were four absentees through injury from last week’s bruising encounter.

On the plus side, Marcus D’Cunha returned at fullback to score a late hat-trick of tries.

Mark Thompson also returned, Chris Bassett was promoted from the seconds and Andy Morris made his debut in the pack.

Old Gs opened their account early on with tries from Ricky Harding and Omar Wahab, one converted by Richard Oxtoby.

Hellingly responded with a good try of their own, touched down in the corner after some fine inter-passing.

Two more tries followed from Old Gs.

Mark Lockwood intercepted a pass when Hellingly rather naively tried to run a penalty from near their own line.

The visiting backs then ran the ball from midfield.

Centre Ricky Harding put in the surge, giving his winger Matt Holdstock the chance to score in the corner under great pressure.

The rest of the first half was lacking in any real structure.

Old Gs lost the ball in possession on numerous occasions while the Hellingly pack were not overawed at all and competed well, especially in the loose.

As the half came to a close it was Hellingly who looked the most likely to score, although Old Gs managed to hold out to the turn around with their 24-5 lead intact.

The second half was mainly one-way traffic.

Old Gravesendians’ tries came at regular intervals, the forceful Harding scoring his own second after good inter-play with Holdstock, and Alex Cave dropping over from a few feet out with the pack having done the hard yards.

Marcus D’Cunha then scored the first of his long-range specials.

Put into space down the middle by some sharp passing, he ran 70m to score under the posts and Oxtoby converted to take the lead to 41-5.

Wahab then scored his second try after excellent work by both forwards and backs.

There was support for the ball carrier and players kept the ball alive well by passing out of the tackle.

This was followed by a second try from D’Cunha on the end of some good play by the backs.

The effort was converted by Oxtoby for giving a 53-5 margin.

Scrum half Chris Bassett then scored a long range try.

His progress up the touchline looked sure to be stopped until he produced an outrageous dummy to see off any threatening defenders and eased into the corner with a wry smile and an untroubled air.

D’Cunha then produced his second long range effort, selling his own dummy to open the field up ahead of him.

There was no Hellingly defender who could stay with his pace as he hurried to the line.

The Oxtoby conversion put the seal on a very comfortable 67-5 win.

Old Gs now move into round four of the competition having entered at this round, which is round three.

It is back to the league this weekend with a home clash against Old Olavians.

There will be a vice-presidents’ lunch prior to the game with the usual splendid fare provided by Roger and Angie from the Windmill Tavern.

Meanwhile, the seconds lost 40-10 against Edenbridge and the thirds lost 57-8 in a friendly against New Ash Green, Neil Edwards scoring a try converted by John Poulson.