Tom Humphrey was the star as Southampton demolished Eastleigh in the final game before Christmas. Keen to bounce back after last week's defeat by Portsmouth, Southampton returned to winning ways in spectacular fashion running in eleven tries.

Humphrey opened the scoring after a looping miss pass found him on the right wing. He had plenty still to do, but his considerable size and power was no match for the smaller Eastleigh backs and he shrugged off a number of tacklers to find the line. Tom converted his own try for an early 7 - 0 lead.

The second try came after a break from Jordan Dashwood. The skipper had a number of Saints players following in support, but it was Tom Howells who took the offload to run in under the posts. The restart was claimed by Jack Leadbitter, who surged forward and offloaded. The ball found its way to Tom Humphrey who again held off the defence to crash through under the posts. He then made it three kicks from three to give Southampton a 21 - 0 lead after twenty minutes.

Eastleigh then enjoyed a period of pressure which took them into the Southampton half. The full back came into the line and they used a loop move to outflank the Southampton midfield and cross the try line, but the ball was held up and Saints were able to clear. The goal line drop was returned strongly though and Southampton found themselves on the defensive as Eastleigh used their forwards in multiple crashes around the tackle. Southampton defended well, with Tyler Ross, Alex Hill, Jack Leadbitter, Gus Nye and Tom Laycock in particular putting in some big tackles. But despite the heroic defensive effort, Eastleigh did force their way over the line eventually to reduce the scoreline to 21 - 5.

From the restart, Jack Leadbitter leapt to claim the ball, but a swinging arm from an Eastleigh player caught him right in his Christmas baubles, which saw him crumple to the ground and utter some very rude words that might well see him end up on Santa's naughty list!

Eastleigh then grabbed a second try after a cross field kick was pulled back for the chaser being in front of the kicker. The penalty gave them a chance to kick for the corner and from the line out Eastleigh created a gap on the left wing and scored their second try. The conversion was good, making the score 21 - 12.

But any suggestion that the game was swinging in Eastleigh's favour proved short lived as Southampton hit back soon after. A neat inside ball from Robbie Ashby put Jordan Dashwood in for Southampton's bonus point try, before a blistering run from Josh Fearon took Southampton into the Eastleigh 22 again. Fearon found Robbie Ashby, who then fed Rico Scala on the left wing. The moustachioed Italian dived for the line with Latin aplomb and Saints were firmly back on top. Tom Humphrey made it five from from with the conversion, making the half time score 35 - 12.

The second half saw things get worse for Eastleigh as their fly half was sin binned for a high tackle on Tyler Ross. Quite how the smaller player actually got up that high is unclear but, with the low sun now in Southampton's eyes, losing their kicker robbed Eastleigh of a potential weapon for ten minutes.

Southampton's next try came from hooker Cam Coffin after some great offloading in contact. Full back Aaron Owen then chased his own long clearance kick and charged down Eastleigh's attempted kick return, sending the ball bouncing into space in the Eastleigh half. Owen hacked the loose ball through and then gathered it himself; a last ditch tackle brought him down just short of the line but he was not held and got back to his feet to score under the posts.

Tyler Ross was next on the scoresheet after cropping up amongst the backs as the ball was worked out towards the right wing. An inside ball from Dave Ward put Ross in and he could not be stopped on his way to the line. Tom Humphrey then added to his bulging sack of points with another try as he smashed his way through the defence, before Tom Howells added another following a break from Jordan Dashwood. The score was now 75 - 12 with only minutes remaining.

Eastleigh were able to grab a consolation try right at the end though. Tyler Ross got an early Christmas card of the yellow variety for a no-arms tackle, though the ref himself admitted another Southampton player had collided with him and knocked him into the Eastleigh player. Unlucky, but the man advantage was enough for Eastleigh to crash over for the last try and the card was enough for Tyler to find himself downing a Dick of the Day pint after the match. The conversion made the final score 75 - 17 for a fantastic end to the year for Southampton. Tom Humphrey took the Man of the Match pint for his three tries and ten conversions, racking up a massive 25 points on his own.