Southampton Vets v Stoneham Park

Arriving with only 13 men, Stoneham borrowed one Saints player for Saturday's clash, leaving them one short with 14. Due to injury and unavailability Coach TC fielded a very different set of backs from last week's game. John Menhennet started at scrum half, with Trevor scooping balls up from around his ankles at stand-off. Ian Duncan partnered Paul Rutherford at centre, with Alex Scott and Jason Kehoe on the wings.

Alex Scott opened the scoring for Southampton after ten minutes, but then a combination of slack Southampton tackling and hard running from Stoneham allowed the visitors to score three tries; two of which came from their quick back line. Southampton trailed 7-17 at half time.

Southampton started the second half with a John Menhennet try, before Rob Clark added another to level the scores at 17-17. Ian Duncan then got hit man-and-ball and took a nasty hit in the nuggets in the process, but he valiantly fought through the pain to play on.

Minutes later, Wayne Allen found his shorts ripped from him after an attempted tackle before swapping the damaged pair with replacement Phil Laycock. After the swap, Laycock was left running the line in some lovely old grey Y-fronts, but thankfully the few ladies present were on the far side of the pitch.

With five minutes left and the scores still tied, Alex Scott ran wide, beat his man and scored under the posts, giving Paul Rutherford an easy conversion. The match finished 24-17 to Southampton in what proved to be yet another close-run win.

Big congratulations to Tony Bunday, who earned the coveted Man of the Match "Green Jacket" award. Other notable performances came from Rob Clark and Wayne Allen.

The Vets entertain Derby Vets' touring side at home next Saturday, before heading into town for a Lad's Night Out.