Stoneham 12 - 56 Southampton

Southampton wrapped up the Hampshire 2 title with a game to spare by beating Stoneham 12-56 - despite some sizeable hangovers and a determined effort from Stoneham.

With Coach Mark Flower forgetting the dates of the rugby season and organising his wedding the day before the crucial clash, a number of Southampton lads took to the field on Saturday nursing some sore heads. And they made life difficult for themselves at first, wasting a number of early overlaps as players tried to do everything on their own.

But the boys settled down and got off the mark through Eric Johnson, who powered over from close range after a catch and drive from a lineout.

Stoneham were eager to cause an upset though and replied almost immediately with a try through the forwards from a tap penalty.

But the league leaders's quality showed and they dominated most of the possesion. First half scores came from Ryan Keary, Steve Dewey, Hector Bevit-Smith and James Filmer - who then had to leave the field after a knock to the head.

Keary had an uncharacteristic an off-day with the boot though, converting just two to give Southampton a 5-29 lead at half time.

Chris Alston started the second half scoring after the ball was moved quickly to the left wing, with scrum half Hector Bevit Smith doubling his tally on 50 minutes.

Stoneham made life difficult for Southampton at the breakdown, with the ref possibly showing them a bit too much generosity towards handling on the floor. They grabbed themselves a second try as their big centre powered through the middle and went in under the posts.

Mark Price then broke out of a maul and forced his way over for Southampton on the hour mark, with Tom Jackson repeating the feat minutes later.

With five minutes to go, Ryan Keary grabbed his second try of the day - and third conversion - taking Southampton to 12-56 at full time.

Southampton only needed a single point to secure the title, but instead took maximum points with a ten try display to put them comfortably clear at the top with one league game remaining.

The final game is 3pm on 14th April at Test Park, please come along and cheer the Champions home. It's also the annual Old Boys' reunion, so hopefully we'll see a few old faces to celebrate the end of of a great season.