Saints v Alton

Things didn't start well for the home side, as Alton found space out wide with the first attack of the game. The ball was moved quickly wide to the left, opening up the Saints defence, before the ball was passed back in the disorgansied midfiled for the first try of the game. The conversion was slotted over for an early 7-0 to Alton.

Things didn't get better quickly for Southampton, who were struggling to win their own ball up front. When a stray pass to Pierre at fly half went to ground and bobbled towards the line, it was an Alton hand that got the ball down first. With little more than five minutes played Saints were 12-0 behind.

Time to regroup, keep it simple and slow it down, surely...?

The resulting kick-off was gathered by the Alton flanker, who then broke through four or five tackles, before using an overlap on the left wing for the game's third try. The conversion was skillfully slotted over from a difficult angle, leaving Saints 19 points adrift without even getting started.

But things weren't all doom and gloom for Southampton. After a shocking start, Saints found their feet and began to do what they do best- controlled, powerful rugby. The lineout started firing, the scrum held steady and the backs started calling training ground move(s). Despite some good attacking moves, Saints couldn't quite string enough phases together to break the Alton defence and the score at half time was Saints 0-19 Alton.

The second half continued as the first had left off, with Saints competing well for the ball and closing down the space the visitors had found so easily in the first half. But then at a ruck Saints seemed to have won, an opportunistic Alton player stepped through where the ball had bobbled free, darted through a cluster of players and outsripped the hopelessly optimistic Ward giving chase. The conversion went over for a 26 point lead.

As on previous occassions, Saints found themselves trailing largely through their own mistakes. After a sloth-like start to the season, the final half hour at least gave the home side a chance to show what they are capable of. A maul just outside their own five metres was driven powerfully up the pitch, across the halfway line before the backs whipped it out to Paul Childs on left wing. He made good ground but was bundled into touch just short of the line.

Lifted by this sudden flash of brilliance, Saints upped their game and thoroughly outplayed Alton for the final fifteen minuntes. With Matt Simmonds steadying things at 8, the pack made good ground up the middle before Paul Brant made a trademark dart into space. He was stopped short of the line but offloaded to Pierre who picked up inches short and dived over for a try on his first start as Captain. He then held his nerver to put the conversion over and Saints were off and running at 7-26.

The rest of the game was all Saints, who had a few breaks stopped short of the line. A series of tap penalties made ground on the Saints left, the ball was brought infield and popped to Pierre, who was caught round the nek with an awful-looking high tackle. With some of the Saints players still going "Ooooooohhhhh", Pierre got up, took it quickly and dived over unchallenged. Again he had no problem with the conversion, bringing the score to 14-26.

That was the way it stayed in the end. Saints finished much the stronger team, but ultimately suffered for their terrible start and a few missed tackles. Some encouraging performances and a true Captain's performance from Pierre. Plenty to work on before travelling to US Portsmouth on Saturday.