New Milton & District 30 - 19 Southampton

Another couple of last minute changes saw Ben Vine and Ramsay Lind make their first starts for Southampton 1s. But New Milton started strongest, taking a fourteen point lead with two scores coming from some excellent changes of direction in the backs.

But Southampton hit back after putting great pressure on a New Milton 5 yard scrum. The ball popped out the back and was gathered by the number eight, but flanker Rob Greenaway was up quickly and drove the defender back over his own line to turn the scrum over. From the reset the ball was shipped out to the backs where full back Ryan Keary powered into the line and forced his way through a gap in the defence. The conversion was missed reducing the deficit to 14-5 at half time.

The second half saw Southampton continue to threaten and it was new boy Ramsay Lind who scored his first try for the Firsts, showing great pace and balance to go round the outside of the defence with little room to move inside the touchline. After a number of missed penalty attempts, Tom Morton handed kicking duties over to Ryan Keary, who made no mistake from a tough angle. 14-12.

But Southampton can sometimes hit the self destruct button and they did themselves no favours midway through the half when prop Marcus Coffin was penalised for a dangerous tackle. The incident sparked a bout of handbags, and when the dust settled Coffin was sinbinned along with the bemused New Milton scrum half, who was accused of some particularly nasty pushing….

But soon after Saints lost another player when second row Lee Mauger was binned for a series of infringements, the final straw being an illegal steal at a ruck in front of the Southampton posts. New Milton kicked the points to stretch their lead further. They added another when Ryan Keary was penalised for blocking a player after he had chipped the ball over the defence, with Keary possibly lucky not to be joining Coffin and Mauger on the sideline. 20-12.

Back to full strength, Southampton ensured a tight finish when they got the ball wide for Mark Waterer to show his speed. As he closed in on the line he drew the last defender and found Rob Greenaway in support on the inside, who gratefully took the pass to run in unchallenged. Again Keary converted reducing the gap to a single point.

But New Milton had the last word, first extending their lead with another penalty, before sealing the game with just minutes remaining through a try from their captain in the left corner.

A disappointing result for Southampton who now drop below Millbrook in the race for fourth. The last game is on 10th April when Eastleigh visit Test Park. Southampton have made great progress this year and so will be looking to avenge the defeat from the opening game of the season, where they were comfortably outplayed by Eastleigh.