Southampton Seconds welcomed some spare Romsey players into their ranks for the afternoon as Alresford were keen to put on a full day of rugby as a tribute to their Honorary President. Southampton also 'retired' the number 1 shirt for the day in memory of Ventnor's Tristan Price, with a minute's silence before the game.

But once the game began, sentimentality was put to one side as the mix-and-match visitors gelled perfectly and ruthlessly dispatched Alresford with a twelve-try onslaught.

Romsey's Oli Pike opened the scoring, powering round the defence on the left wing before running round to touch down under the posts. Soon after, a break from Dave Ward took Southampton deep into the Alresford twenty two. He was tackled just short of the line but popped up for Rob Greenaway to dive over. Ward crossed himself next, hitting a great line to carve through the defence untouched and score under the posts.

Alresford got on the scoreboard themselves with a break down the blind side from the scrum half, but Southampton hit back with a try from Adam Harrington. A quick tap penalty from Nick Creal put Alresford on the back foot. The ball came out to fly half Luis Wallace who drifted across the park, inviting Harrington onto a line that cut back inside the scrambling defence. He stepped the final man and touched down, giving Southampton the bonus point on the half hour mark.

Josh Clief then grabbed his first of the day when a charged-down Alresford kick turned the ball over for Southampton. He gathered the loose ball just inside his own half, beat one man on the outside and stepped inside another before finishing off with a spectacular swan dive under the posts.

He then nearly doubled his total straight from the restart after a break from Oli Pike took Southampton deep into the Alresford half. Pike was stopped short of the line, but the ball was recycled out to the left wing where Clief forced his way over, only to be held up over the line. But Alresford had been penalised in the tackle giving Southampton another chance five metres out. A crash from Nick Cleal went close before the ball was spun out to the backs where it went through every pair of hands before finding Cameron Thomas on the opposite wing, giving the youngster a try in his first game of senior rugby. The half time whistle saw Southampton comfortably ahead at 7-40.

Southampton wasted no time once Alresford got the second half got underway. After gathering a bobbling ball from the kick off, a chip into space behind the defence was fumbled by Alresford, with Oli Pike pouncing on the mistake and running in for his second try.

Paul Rutherford caught the defence napping with a quick tap penalty to run in for a try, with another coming straight from the restart. The kick off was caught by Rob Hurley who fed Luis Wallace. He found Dave Ward who sold a great dummy to glide past the tackler before exchanging a series of passes with Adam Harrington who held off a tackler to force his way over in the corner.

Alresford then grabbed a couple of consolation tries, firstly by exploiting a gap in the defence around a breakdown. The second came as Southampton were pressing for a try themselves. A long miss pass was intercepted and the Alresford player showed a clean pair of heels to run in from 80 metres.

Josh Clief finished off another neat backs move to bag his second try, before Nick Cazeaux got in on the action following a break from Rob Hurley. Hurley popped to Cazeaux, who backed himself to run in from just outside the twenty two. Clief then rounded things off with his hat-trick try, taking the ball inside his own half and gassing the defence on the outside. Dave Ward converted, seeing him finish with 9 from 12 attempts and making the final score 19-78.

This was a great confidence-booster for Southampton, who certainly didn't look like a side who hadn't met half the players until an hour before kick off. Huge credit goes to the Romsey lads who helped out, including Ian Thomas- playing his first game in three years alongside his two sons, Lewis and try scorer Cameron, who both earned celebratory pints on chairs afterwards.