A mix of Southampton's Ones and Twos lined up against a Trojans side that featured a mix of experienced regulars and up and coming youngsters for an Easter Saturday showdown at Test Park.

Southampton started brightly, returning the kick off and stringing together a series of attacks, but Trojans were quick to the breakdown and earned themselves a penalty to ease the early pressure. They threatened the Southampton line with their first attack but were held up over the line by some solid defence. Trojans did open the scoring though, moving the ball wide to their speedy backs to touch down in the corner. They were unable to convert, but took a 0-5 lead.

Southampton struck back after a training-ground line out move sucked in the forwards to give scrum half Dave Ward space to attack. He offloaded to Lachlan Fasher who powered through to touch down under the posts, somehow injuring his ankle in the process and bringing an early end to his game. He was replaced by John Redell, who suddenly found himself facing at least 45 minutes more game time than he had probably bargained for.

A second Trojans try came through a chip over the top. The left winger chased it down and the ref decided he had grounded the ball, despite protests from Southampton and the touch judge that he had knocked on. They broke the Southampton defensive line on a number of occasions but Saints were saved by a series of handling errors that cost a number of tries. Aidan Sharp made an excellent tackle to stop another attack, but Trojans still added a third to take a 7-19 lead into half time.

The second half saw plenty more tries from both sides. A quick tap penalty from Southampton put Trojans on the back foot and they used their forwards to power towards the line. A series of crashes from Mark Mauger and Marcus Coffin took them close to the line before Dave Ward dived over for the try. Tom Humphrey converted.

Humphrey was in the mix again shortly after. He forced Trojans' winger into touch but the youngster took exception and decided it was a good idea to pick a fight with the former British Heavyweight judo champion... Luckily for him, Tom has respect for weight classes and chose to politely decline the offer of a mid-game shiai...

The quick tap penalty proved to be a good weapon for Southampton, often giving them the chance to make ground before the defence had retreated ten metres. Ward found himself in danger of coming into range of the legal tacklers and offloaded to John Redell, who found Chris Alston in support. He still had plenty to do, but forced his way in under the posts.

Despite Southampton's improvement, the Trojans backs continued to be dangerous. They struck back straight from a restart after one of Southampton's tries, but the kicker took too long for the conversion and the ref timed him out. Another score came from an interception while Southampton were trying to get the ball wide, with another coming after an ill-judged kick straight to a dangerous winger.

Chris Alston grabbed his second try of the game and, as the game game to its conclusion, Southampton found themselves threatening the Trojans line again. The forwards did the hard work, before Aidan Sharp dived over on the right wing for the last try of the game.

Trojans came away with a 31-46 win, but there were plenty of positives for Southampton in what was a good game from both sides. The Saints pack probably edged the battle up front, with Jack Leadbitter making good ground from number eight and the forwards running hard off Alec Gray at fly half. First team skipper Jordan Dashwood enjoyed his cameo in the backs and relished the chance to run at more inexperienced players - but while he chose to run through defenders, the Trojans backs had the legs to go round Southampton and it was ultimately them who won the game for the visitors.

Man of the Match went to John Redell who was called into action way earlier than he planned but was still running good support lines right to the end. Dick of the Day went to Dave Ward who ignored his own instructions and kicked right down the throat of Trojan's winger.

Southampton Rugby Club

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