New Milton & District v Saints

Southampton found themselves behind after only three minutes when the New Milton full back slotted over a penalty from 35 yards after Saints were caught offside at the ruck. The visitors nearly scored themselves soon after, as the ball was worked wide quickly where Southampton had numbers on the left. But with the try line begging, the final pass was knocked on and New Milton were able to clear their lines from the scrum. The New Milton full back was in good form with the boot, adding a second penalty as Southampton failed to release on the floor.

New Milton had some big runners in the pack, who they used to good effect to punch holes in the Saints defence. They also had plenty of pace in the backs and could have added to their total when the left winger found himself on the overlap, but he also knocked on yards short of the line. The first try came after half an hour as the New Milton backs combined in numbers and found a gap to the right of the posts. The full back also converted, putting Saints 13 points behind at half time.

Sensing New Milton were benefiting from a more mobile pack, Saints made a number of changes at half time. Mark Mauger and Tony Cador were replaced by Pete Tong and Rob Greenaway, with Paul Childs moving from second row to number eight. Mark Waterer also replaced Ben Rawlings on the left wing and Steve Dewey came on for Kevin Simmons in the front row, where he had an immediate impact (if he does say so himself!) The changes certainly added more pace and mobility to the Saints pack with both Childs and Tong making some great runs in the loose. From a ruck on the Saints' right, Dave Griffiths attacked the blind side and found Marcus Coffin outside him. He drew his man and put Femi Adeniran through on the overlap for Southampton's first try. The conversion was missed, making the score 13-5. New Milton then hit back with a try of their own as they made space on the wing and went round the Saints defence. The New Milton full back made no mistake with the conversion, taking the score to 20-5. He added another penalty soon after, extending the lead to 23-5.

As the game neared its conclusion, Saints seemed to find their form and put together a series of attacks. Aaron Nelson made a great break and found Pierre Molyneux inside him, but he was stopped a yard short of the line. The pack worked hard and recycled the ball for Kevin Cant to pick up and dive over for his first try for Southampton under the posts. The conversion took the score to 23-12 and proved to be last score of the game.

A much improved second half performance from Southampton, but it was too little too late. And with the New Milton full back providing deadly accuracy with the boot, Southampton need to cut out the penalties when the two sides meet in the league in three weeks.