Portsmouth 4s and (last minute) Lymington Mariners 1s both cancelled on their Southampton counterparts this week, which led to a lot of dissapointed players who had been training twice a week in expectations of a run out.

The club instead arranged a 9aside inter-club friendly comprising of mixed teams. This turned out to be a great success giving everyone a good, competitive run out but also an opportunity for the First and Second teams to mix up and join for a drink afterwards.

The match itself was not of the highest quality - the weather conditions ruined any chance of Fiji style 7s play... And the amount of players in unfamiliar positions led to a fairly disjointed game. Surpsingly though it was the 'experienced' front row team that went 26-0 ahead. A solid (if slightly early pushing) scrum gave a good platform and Monty on the wing brought pace and finishing.

Not a player on the pitch went without a mistake or two but it was Nick C who made the worst by chasing back after a long kick restart and proceeded to kick the ball out, from inside the dead ball area, when he could have just touched it down.

The score ended up something like 66-42 to the 'experienced team.'

Thankfully no one attempted an Italy style defence.