Southampton 26 - 5 Fareham Heathens

With Fareham's pitch under water, Saturday's game was moved to Test Park where Southampton put in another solid performance to earn their fourth league win in succession.

Paul Brant returned at scrum half, meaning Dave Ward moved to outside centre. With Aaron Nelson unavailable, Julian Robins started at full back with Mark Waterer and Josh Pitt on the wings. In the pack Lee and Ian Mauger kept their places after excellent performances against Petersfield last week.

Southampton got off the mark first, with Tom Morton picking out Julian Robins as he cut between the Fareham centres to run in under the posts. Morts then added the conversion to give Saints a 7-0 lead.

Saints continued to apply pressure and moved the ball along the backs at every opportunity. Their second try came as the ball was shipped through the hands, before Pierre Molyneux fed Tony Cador with a miss pass to put in the number 8 for his ninth try of the season. The conversion was from a difficult angle on the left touchline and it fell short of the target, giving Saints a 12-0 lead after twenty minutes.

The third try came soon after and in a similar fashion to the second, with Mark Waterer converting after the ball was moved quickly out to the left wing. Again the conversion was from a difficult angle, but this time Morts made no mistake and extended Southampton's lead to 19-0, which is how the scoreboard stood at half time.

The second half continued in much the same manner as the first with Southampton creating plenty of attacking opportunities. Tony Cador showed great vision to chip the ball into space behind Heathens' winger for Josh "Teflon" Pitt to chase. He beat the defender to the ball and hacked it forward, but as he stooped to gather it on the try line he stumbled, dropped the ball onto his knees and shuffled off sheepishly.

Southampton then added to their score as Julian Robins cut between the defence with exactly the same move that had earned him his try. The Heathens' full back closed him down, but Dave Ward popped up in support and ran in unchallenged. Again Tom Morton put the conversion over, taking Saints' lead to 26-0.

The game had been fairly comfortable for Southampton, despite repeatedly incurring the wrath of the referee for some questionable infringements. But as the game entered the final fifteen minutes, the ref lost patience when Paul Brant handled on the floor, earning the Southampton scrum half ten minutes in the bin.

The extra man seemed to lift Fareham and they put together their best rugby of the match, stringing together a number of drives through the forwards that had Southampton on the back foot. With the ref again warning Saints about infringements close to their try line, Fareham built up enough momentum to force their way over for a late consolation try. The conversion was missed, reducing the deficit to 26-5.

With Branty's sin bin elapsed, the game then took a further twist as Marcus Coffin was also sent to the sin bin, for "dangerous rucking". Had there been longer on the clock Saints may not have seen the funny side when they then went down to thirteen men when Ian Mauger was binned for apparently pushing his opposite man. But despite the two-man disadvantage and the unexpected decision to tap and go on their own goal line with the clock already dead, Southampton had already done enough and closed out the last few minutes to win 26-5.

Saints now move up to sixth and are level on points with Millbrook and Romsey, who are ahead on points difference. Seventh-place New Milton visit Test Park next Saturday and will be looking to return to winning ways after losing 16-21 to Millbrook at the weekend. But they will face a Southampton side who are full of confidence, taking their chances and winning matches.