Southampton 27 - 14 Farnborough

With a number of regular players unavailable, Southampton called upon their Seconds to bolster the side. And the players stepped up to the mark and delivered an excellent team performance to earn Southampton their second win of the year.

Southampton have been guilty of starting slowly in recent weeks, but today they hit the ground running and got the first points on the board with a penalty try. Winger Chris Alston charged down a clearance kick but as he chased the ball over the line he was tackled without the ball just yards short of claiming his first try for the Ones. But the ref had no hesitation in awarding the penalty try and also sent the Farnborough fly half to the sin bin for ten minutes. Ryan Keary added an easy extra two from in front of the posts, giving Southampton a 7-0 lead.

But Farnborough hit back soon after, with a series of drives from the pack taking them into to Southampton twenty two. They then spotted a chance on the blind side, attacking with numbers to put the fly half in from close range. The conversion drew the scores level.

Farnborough then benefited from some good fortune when a clearance from Southampton fly half Ramsay Lind fell kindly to the right winger who drew his man and fed the big outside centre, who crashed over to put the visitors ahead. The difficult conversion went over giving Farnborough a 7-14 lead.

Ryan Keary added a penalty for Saints, moments after hitting the post with an earlier attempt, bringing the score to 10-14. Farnborough could have extended their lead when their prop intercepted a stray pass and fed the outside centre, but he couldn't hold on to the pass and knocked on with the try line begging. The score stood at 10-14 at half time.

Southampton began the second half confidently and pegged Farnborough in their twenty two. A number of infringements gave Saints three penalty chances but Keary was only successful with one, reducing the deficit to 1 point.

But the home side kept the pressure on and were rewarded with a try through Fraser Chisholm, who forced his way over the line with a low body position that proved unstoppable from close range. No mistake with the conversion from Keary put Southampton ahead at 20-14.

The score stayed like that until 70 minutes after an unsuccessful penalty attempt from the Farnborough fly half, although Southampton continued to dominate the game. They sealed the win after Farnborough again went down to fourteen men when the number eight was sinbinned for repeated offsides at the breakdown. From a Southampton lineout, scrum half Dave Ward found a gap in the defence and fed number eight Chris Milne. He set up quick ball for Fraser Chisholm who drove close to the line and sucked in more defenders, before the ball was spun out wide where a five man overlap was finished off by full back Ryan Keary. He converted his own try from a difficult angle on the right touchline.

Farnborough then self-destructed after the open-side flanker was given a straight red card for dissent, seeing them finish the game with thirteen men. Southampton wound the clock down in the Farnborough half, with a late penalty attempt drifting just wide. But as the ball went dead, the ref signalled the end of the game giving Southampton a hard-fought and well-deserved victory.

Excellent performances came from winger Chris Alston and hooker Simon Heeks, while Chris Milne earned his second Man of the Match award in two weeks after another dominant display at number eight.