US Portsmouth 23 -24 Southampton

Some last minute changes saw Lee Mauger replace Pete Toland at second row, while Dave Griffiths came in at fly half and Jamie Hoque replaced the injured Kevin Cant at flanker.

Southampton had an early chance for points when Pompey were penalised 30 yards out, but the kick from Griff drifted wide of the right post. But Southampton's recent success has been built on powerful performances from the pack and Saturday saw another demonstration of their dominance, as they consistently drove the Pompey scrum backwards.

However it was US Pompey who broke the deadlock as their deceptively quick half-backs found a gap and moved the ball out wide on the left where an overlap enabled them to round the defence and score. The conversion went over, giving the home side a 7-0 lead.

The first half remained tight, with Portsmouth making a number of threatening breaks but not being able to finish them off. But as half time approached, Southampton reduced the deficit with three points from the boot of Dave Griffiths. They then took the lead straight from the restart after the ball was shipped out to Mark Waterer on the left wing. He chipped the ball over the last man and then beat the defender to touch the ball down. Again Griff added the extras, giving Saints a 7-10 lead at half time.

The second half saw Portsmouth continue to sruggle at the scrum and it was Southampton's dominance at the set piece that brought about their second try. Having just driven the Portsmouth pack ten yards backwards, Saints found themselves with a five yard scrum in front of the posts. Again Portsmouth couldn't hold the shove and their tight five disintegrated with Southampton closing in on the line. The ref had little hesitation in awarding the penalty try, which Griff converted.

Portsmouth added a penalty, bringing the scores to 10-24 but then missed a second attempt at three points when Paul Brant was rather harshly penalised for handling on the floor.

Saints were then forced to reshuffle when Mark Waterer landed awkwardly, with an audible click signalling the snapping of ligaments in his shoulder. Jamie Hoque moved to the wing, giving Nick Cazeaux his First Team debut on the flank.

Southampton bagged their third try soon after, with Portsmouth looking to run the ball out from under their own posts. But the Saints defence closed them down quickly and forced the outside centre into a hurried kick. His clearance was charged down by Dave Ward, who then ran through and touched down to score. Again Dave Griffiths added the conversion, giving Southampton a comfortable 10-24 lead.

But Southampton never like to do things the easy way and conceded a try when Portsmouth got the ball out wide and found an overlap to beat the covering defender. The kick was missed, taking the score to 15-24.

Things then got even worse as Portsmouth repeated the feat right from the restart, again getting the ball wide and finding an extra man who scored in the corner. Again the kick was missed, but Portsmouth were now within a single try of snatching the win.

As the game entered the final minute, Southampton conceded a penalty in front of their posts, about ten yards out. But Portsmouth had lost track of the score, beliving it to be 17-20, and so elected to kick the points in the belief they would tie the game. As it was, Pompey came within a single point of Southampton, who resolved to see out the game with the ball up the forwards' jumpers.

With the pack trundling forward, Portsmouth were penalised and the ref confirmed time was up. Dave Ward ignored Rob Greenaway's suggestion to kick the points, and instead punted the ball into touch to end the game and seal the win.

Some excellent performances from Southampton, including man of the match Marcus Coffin, who tirelessly crashed through the Pompey defence. Kev Simmons and Lee Mauger also made excellent ground with ball in hand. On the right wing, Josh Pitt was a constant threat and came close to scoring on a number of occasions.

But the standout performance of the day came from the Southampton scrum, who had Portsmouth in all sorts of trouble at every set piece and were justly rewarded with the penalty try.

So again, Southampton produced some moments of brilliance but came close to undoing all their hard work as they switched off early in the mistaken belief the game was in the bag.

League leaders Alton come to Test Park next week and will face a Southampton side playing vastly improved rugby than when the two sides met earlier in the year.