Eastleigh 39 - 28 Southampton

With fellow strugglers Isle of Wight having a rest week, Southampton travelled to Eastleigh knowing a win could cancel out the points advantage gained by the islanders after their surprise bonus-point win against US Pompey’s “first team”.

With Kevin Simmons unavailable, Steve Dewey stepped in at prop, Ian Paul came into second row and Nick Cazeaux replaced Jamie Hoque on the flank. Fly half Tom Morton also returned to the squad on the bench, with Ramsay Lind in the number 10 jersey.

Southampton got the better of the opening exchanges and had an early chance for points when Eastleigh were penalised in front of the posts, but with regular kicker Ryan Keary unavailable, stand-in kicker Adam Zeller pushed his effort wide of the right hand post.

With five minutes gone, a break from Adam Tyson took Southampton close to the Eastleigh line. He found Nick Cazeaux in support on his left, who did well to recycle the ball quickly as the covering defender tackled him a yard short. The ball was spun out to Ramsay Lind who floated a long miss-pass out to Tom Barnes whose angled run took him between two Eastleigh defenders and over the line. Again the kick was wide, but Southampton had an early lead.

But despite the confidence boost of the early try, Southampton went to sleep and let Eastleigh back into the game. From a scrum on the Saints’ twenty two, Eastleigh moved flanker Rich O’Donnell to number eight where he picked up and evaded the tacklers to score under the posts. The conversion put them ahead 7-5.

They then extended their lead after shipping the ball out to the right winger who exploited an overlap to cross in the corner, despite a frantic last minute tackle which saw the winger bundled over the corner flag. In the absence of a TV replay, the ref looked to the Eastleigh touch judge who confirmed the try. An excellent kick from the touchline doubled the home side’s total at 14-5.

With their noses ahead, Eastleigh then took control of the game with their strong runners forcing some good tackles from the Southampton defence, with captain Dave Ward ending up in the blood bin (again) after taking a knee to the face as he brought down an Eastleigh runner. Ramsay Lind then moved to scrum half with Tom Morton on at fly half for ten minutes while Ward was being patched up.

Despite the good start from Southampton, Eastleigh dominated the first half and kept the scoreboard ticking with an unconverted try and a penalty, taking the score to 22-5.

Eastleigh kept the pressure on and came close to scoring again, forming a ruck a yard out on the right wing. Sensing the immediate threat Ian Budd disrupted the ball from an offside position to prevent a certain try. The ref sent him to the naughty step for ten minutes and Southampton were lucky not to concede a penalty try.

In the second half Southampton made a number of changes, replacing Dan Keepax with Doug Barrow and Ian Paul with Rob Greenaway. Ramsay Lind then moved to scrum half bringing Tom Morton into the action at 10, with Dave Ward moving to the left wing for Julian Robins.

Morton had an immediate impact, slotting over a penalty to take Southampton to 8 points. They followed this up with a try from hooker Tom Jackson, who found himself on the end of a ludicrous up-and-under from number eight Chris Milne. The smallest man on the pitch somehow managed to outjump the defender and Jackson got the ball down to mark the start of Southampton’s fightback. Morton added the extras, taking it to 22-15

Two more penalties from the boot of Morts brought Southampton to within 1 point at 22-21, as the crowd braced themselves for a thrilling finale. Eastleigh responded with a penalty of their own, stretching the lead to four points. With fifteen minutes remaining they seemed to have put daylight between the sides as they scored their third try to take the score to 32-21.

But Southampton weren't finished and threw everything at Eastleigh in search of the try. The ball was moved out through the backs to Ward on the wing, who found himself in space to attack the defence. He stepped inside to commit the final man and presented the ball back for Doug Barrow to pick up and dive over for the score. Morts' conversion brought the scores to 32-28.

With seconds remaining, Southampton pressed forward looking to steal a priceless win, but with Eastleigh under pressure Southampton spilled the ball, only for a huge clearance kick to send them all the way back on their own five yard line.

Things then went from bad to worse as the lineout missed the target, only for an Eastleigh player to pick up and dive over the line to score, sealing the win and snatching away the bonus point.

No shortage of excitement, but yet again Southampton came away with nothing to show for their efforts. The final game of the season sees Southampton face US Portsmouth, whose unexpected 50-0 loss to Isle of Wight saw the islanders leapfrog Southampton to move out of the bottom two.