The visitors started strongly, chasing down the kick off and bundling the Heathens' catcher into touch to regain the throw in at the lineout. From the throw in the ball was passed through the hands to Mark Waterer, who cut back infield and found Steve Dewey in support.

Southampton kept the pressure on through the pack and it was Kevin Simmons who drove over for the first try after only four minutues. Rob Gould added the conversion for a 0-7 lead.

The sides traded penalties before Fareham spent some time in the opposition half and had a good opportunity after some prolonged possession. With number wide on both sides, a forward picked up and attacked the middle, but the defence stood firm.

Instead it was Southampton who scored next, when a cross field kick behind the left wing from Rob Gould landed just inside the touchline and bounced perfectly for Mark Waterer. He still had plenty to do, but did well to run in from 40 yards. Gould added the conversion taking the score to 3-17.

Southampton had a strong wind behind them and with Gould, Keary and Griff all offering options with the boot, they found plenty of gaps behind the defence and pegged Fareham in their own half. Gould also kept the scoreline ticking with another penalty.

Tom Jackson added a third try just before half time when he broke off from a maul and found a big gap in the defence. He ran it closer to the posts, but Gould missed his only kick of the day, making the score 3-25. Fareham found time in the half to miss two penalties, so that is how it stood at the break.

Fareham scored first in the second half with the forwards picking and driving three time from the base of the breakdown before piling over for the score. The conversion was missed.

Fareham now had the wind behind them and and when a chip over was knocked on they broke through and kicked it ahead, but full back Keary read the danger and put the ball off the pitch.

It wasn't all Fareham though, with Southampton turning over scrums and getting the ball wide, but they conceded a number of penalties with the ref warning them about not releasing.

So when the ref pinged Chris Alston, he took one for the team doing ten minutes for his first offence of the game. But despite the one-man advantage Fareham couldn't make it count and Southampton's defence saw out the ten without conceding.

Southampton were back to full strength but still conceding penalties, but the clock running down, Fareham started running from long range. They got the ball into the Southampton 22 and another drive from the pack put a forward in. The conversion took it to 15-32.

Southampton sealed the bonus point when they got the ball wide to Mark Waterer, who beat his man before passing back inside to Ryan Keary who capped off an excellent try. Gould converted from a difficult angle to cap an excellent day with the boot.

The score ended Fareham 15-32 Southampton, giving Southampton a bonus point to leapfrog Heathens to the top of the table.

There were some excellent performances from the Southampton lads, notably Tom Jackson. His move from hooker to flanker sees him involved much more in the game, and he was a constant presence around the park and capped a great game off with a try.