Tottonians 12 - 39 Southampton

The game got underway with Southampton sporting a strong front three for what promised to be a hard-hitting fast game. With ten minutes gone the knee of Ginger gave way so on come new boy Ash.

Shortly after, Paul Rutherford made a costly mistake with a comical drop goal attempt that certainly livened up the supporters!

At the twenty minute mark Eric Johnson ran through a wall of Totts to score the first try of the game. The conversion by Paul ‘That Dropkick’ Rutherford was missed.

Then it was Totts on the attack. The ball from forwards went out to their backs for a lovely run and a kick past Saints defence left an easy touch down… but missed.

Then almost a same pattern of play saw Alex Scott run 30 yards to kick through the Tots defence for an easy score… but also missed.

A change of hookers saw Tom Jackson come on after 27 mins.

Saints then got back on the attack with Bunny storming down the wing to run in under the posts. "Dropgoal" Rutherford converted to take the score to 0-12 to Saints.

The last ten minutes of the half saw Totts piling on the pressure at the Southampton goal line but the defence held fast and at half time the score remained 0-12.

With the second half under way and more beer in the supporters, the huge crowd got louder: all 18 fans launched a barrage of very witty gags at the birthday Boy Russell and Jules ‘The hair cut’.

Jules responded by gathering the ball from a Totts kick and running 30 yards to score a fantastic solo try. The heaving crowd was silenced - until the conversion was missed and the target of abuse reverted to "Dropgoal" Rutherford.

Ginge’s knee was healed by the magic hands of Gordon, or possibly a can of Fosters, and he was back on providing some lovely colour to the front row.

Totts put up another high ball, this time collected by Bunny to run 60 yards in what looks to be another fine solo effort, but his run was stopped short and Tots turned round on an immediate counter attack.

With Totts moving forward fast, a kick to the winger just failed to connect and Saints again dodged another bullet. Sadly this Totts pressure buckled the miracle knee and again Ginge limped off. Tom Whippet ran back on and Totts score almost immediately. I’m sure the two events are unconnected, but who can be sure?

The Totts full back's try under the post was easily converted taking the score to 7-17 to saints.

The Saints response came via a darting run from Bunny to score. The try brought with it the surprise of the game as Mark Mauger stepped up to take the conversion, silencing the heaving crowd - until he missed! A quick reshuffle brought on Colin Anderson for his second appearance for Saints, providing some additional support in the pack.

Now it was time from Michael Crouch to receive the ball and some flashy foot work saw the young lad side step five or six Totts players and feed the ball neatly to Mark Mauger to fall over the line for another score.

With the full time looming the pressure from Totts was increasing and this saw Saints scrum half Russ Clark leave the pitch with a knee injury. A swift re-jig from Saints saw Eric Johnson struggle to don a number 9 shirt to the amusement of the fans. This ideas was quickly shelved and back into the pack came Eric.

The Totts boys were clearly slowing with Saints still strong giving Bunny the chance to run in a fantastic try which was converted by "The Dropgoal".

The response from Totts was great and their winger ran in a lovely try. With the score line still ticking over the game was still on and this was echoed by the fans saying “Wow, with this score line still ticking over the game is still on”.

But Julian Robins must have heard the comments, as he caught a Totts kick and ran his way to the try line, off-loading to Bunny to score the last try of the game. With the conversion missed it would be the last points of the game, giving Southampton a decent win.