It was a tough first league game for new skipper Tom Howells' side as Fordingbridge dominated proceedings from the start. Will Wride made his league debut for Southampton, with club stalwarts Kev Simmons and Ian Budd bringing their years of experience to the pack.

Four early tries from the visitors put Southampton on the back foot and they never really recovered. They continued the pressure throughout the first half and ran in four more first half tries, with the scores mainly coming from their speedy backs who used loops to create extra men and find gasping the Southampton defence.

The second half was closer, but Fordingbridge added two more tries. Southampton hit back in the last ten minutes with a pair of scores from Jordan Dashwood. The first came direct from a restart, with Dashwood claiming Howells' kick and fighting his way through the defence to score in the corner. He grabbed his second five minutes later when he popped up in the back line, taking a pass from Tommy Ashby and fending off the defence to run round and score under the posts. Ashby converted, but it was merely a consolation at this point as Fordingbridge ran out 12 - 65 winners.

A heroic effort from Kev Simmons saw him take both Man of the Match and Dick of the Day awards.

Southampton will be working hard to tighten up their defence ahead of a trip to US Portsmouth next week.