After the original fixture was postponed due to a frozen pitch, Southampton were faced with the prospect of taking on the league leaders with a large number of players unavailable. Stand-in skipper Dave Ward called up a number of regular second-teamers, including Kev Simmons, Ian Budd, Harry Allen, Pascal Garrard, Rob Greenaway and Aidan Sharp and they lined up to face Andover knowing that failure to fulfil the fixture would cost the team a penalty of 5 league points.

Saints started fairly strongly and after a series of drives from the forwards managed to work the ball out to winger Pascal, whose chip into the Andover 22 forced the defender to turn and hastily clear.

But from then on, Southampton struggled to put together many attacking opportunities and instead the game became 80 minutes of tackling against Andover's big forward runners. They dug deep under heavy pressure on their try line holding up the ball over the line on two occasions before Andover finally made a breakthrough after twenty minutes.

Andover struck again after loading runners on the short side, with their big prop forward diving in at the corner for the try. The conversion was missed, giving Andover a 12-0 lead. Despite all the pressure from the home side, that remained the score at half time and Saints felt they were still in the game, having not really shown what they could do with ball in hand.

As the second half progressed, the relentless tackling started taking their toll on the visitors, with Tom Vernon and Dave Ward leaving the pitch to injury. Chris Alston stepped into scrum half, with Aidan Sharp making his first team debut on the wing.

Andover stepped up the pace in the second half and brought on some even bigger runners, with the replacement Sumo powering over for two tries from close range. They continued to batter the Saints defence and eventually racked up 43 unanswered points.

Despite the scoreline, this game was testament to the determination of the Southampton lads. The boys stepped up when the Club needed them and kept fighting to the end.

There were some excellent performances, notably from Josh Fearon who was Andover's pick as Man of the Match for his powerful running throughout. Harry Allen had a great game at flanker, carrying the ball well and making some crucial tackles. Gus Nye also put in another big shift, with countless hits not he Andover runners. Marcus Coffin recovered well from a ridiculously late hit to the back and kept the team motivated in spite of the growing scoreline.

While the result is disappointing, the lads should all be proud of themselves. With Andover unwilling to play the game on an alternative date, the lads who pulled on the shirt today did their club proud and by fulfilling the fixture saved 5 league points - which could prove crucial at the end of the season.

Southampton Rugby Club

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