Southampton 2s teamed up with some Fareham Heathens and travelled to face Isle Wight 2s in a high scoring match that went right down to the wire. With captain Dave Ward injured, Rico Scala led the team in his absence. Zak O'Neill made his debut in red and white and relative newcomers Chris Magrane and Aidan Sharp joined veterans Paul Rutherford, Kev Simmons and Rob Greenaway for a perfect mix of youth and experience.

IoW struck first after a break down the left wing, but Southampton hit back almost immediately. With the home side threatening to add a second try, Southampton turned the ball over and ran out from their own goal line. Rico linked up with Chris Magrane, who found Aidan Sharp, who made good ground down the wing. A break by Heathens' full back Sam saw him link up with team mate James to go close to the Islanders' try line before Saints were awarded a penalty for an infringement at the breakdown. Heathens' prop Ben White took a quick tap and powered over the line to level the scores.

Despite a number of unfamiliar faces in the Southampton team, the lads put together some good phases of play and worked well with each other. Debutant Zak O'Neill impressed with some big runs and tackles, and kept up the visitors' momentum by playing scrum half when he found himself at the breakdown with runners waiting. Aidan's Sharp's tackling practice with Gus has clearly paid off as he made a number of hits on larger opponents, while Chris Magrane was keen to get involved and carried the ball well. Southampton's second try came after a break from fly half Rico who cut into the IoW 22 and evaded the defence to score under the posts. He converted his own try giving Southampton a 5-12 lead.

Isle of Wight struck back after Southampton lost the ball in the tackle while running out of defence, but were unable to convert to level the scores. Southampton's lead was cut to 10-12.

From the restart, Isle of Wight knocked the ball on giving Southampton the put in at the scrum. James Heathen picked up at the base and surged forward before finding Rico in support, who ran in for his second try of the game.

Saints extended their lead right before half time when Rob Greenaway, gamely playing out of position at hooker, stole a scrum against the head in the islanders' half. Paul Rutherford made a break and then found Chris Magrane, who touched down for his first try for Southampton to give Southampton a 10-22 lead at half time.

The second half was a very different affair, with Southampton having to absorb a barrage of Island pressure for the first 15 minutes. But despite having the bulk of the possession in that period, the IoW attack was scrappy and a number of chances went begging through knock ons. They did come close to scoring under the posts, but dogged goal line defence forced a knock on in the grounding.

Instead it was Saints who grabbed the next try. Rob Greenaway found himself with the ball in space on the right wing, but around forty metres out fro the try line. He was grateful to find Sam Heathen in support and the speedy full back ran in to extend the lead to 10-27, with IoW's complaints of a forward pass falling of deaf ears.

From then on IoW found their rhythm and bagged a series of quick-fire tries to drag themselves back into the game. A crash from a big forward brought the first of three scores, before their prop avoided a series of tackles to run in from outside the 22. The resulting kick off was returned for the third of three back to back tries, and when the conversion sailed over the scores were suddenly level at 27-27.

With only minutes on the clock in this friendly fixture, the ref asked both teams if they fancied sharing a draw but Isle of Wight felt they had the momentum and opted to play on, sensing victory would be theirs. It proved to be a costly mistake as instead Southampton regained the ball from the restart and attacked themselves. Aidan Sharp drove for the line and, with the help of a shove from behind from Zak O'Neill, (don't ask where his finger ended up!) reached out for the try line and bagged his first try for the club. Paul Rutherford stepped up to slot the conversion over, Saints closed out the final seconds of the game before the ref's whistle signalled victory for Southampton.

This was a great example of grassroots rugby, with Southampton and Fareham Heathens joining forces to make the game happen. Isle of Wight also deserve credit for rotating in some players to boost numbers (although some loanees proved more use than others!) Zak O'Neill and James Heathen took joint Man of the Match awards, although having now seen the dodgy pints they were given I am not so sure they thanked me much for that one...

Southampton Rugby Club

Match details

Match date

Kickoff

Location

Team Sponsors

Login