Romsey 2s 5 Andover Vets 49

On a glorious sunny day, Romsey and Andover produced a game to honour the passing of two of the players' dads in recent weeks. The fathers of ex-Romsey player Steve Rogerson and former 2s captain Kev White were given a thunderous round of applause pre-match before the game began.

Both teams started scrappily with many balls being dropped which allowed Will Harrison and John Gray to get to know their opposite numbers in the front row early on. A well-worked move between new centre pairing of Jay Hodges and Tyler Beardsley gave Romsey a position deep in the opposition territory but overeagerness at the breakdown allowed Andover to clear their lines. With Alex Watts and Baz Newman providing pace out wide Romsey were on the attack again and from a penalty, Nick Creal’s accurate pass gave Ian Milanak space to rampage over for his maiden try for the club.

Unfortunately, this roused the opposition, who all play regularly, some at level 7, into action but determined tackling from ageing locks Tristan Pattison and Jamie Whatley kept the marauders from north of the Test at bay before they sneaked over for a try. With Oli Coburn stretching the full-back shirt following a cruise and Sam Newman stretching his legs Romsey were back on the attack again but were met with a resolute defence. After 20 minutes the game halted to allow the players to take refreshments on and for the opposition who had been facing a lineout in their 22 were allowed to kick off from half way and miscommunication meant they now had a lineout 5 metres from the home side's line. From this, a bemused home team conceded a try to make the score 5-12.

Romsey then made some changes to give fresh impetus to the match. Matt Campbell, having been cajoled onto a rugby pitch for the first time ever, looked like a man who had played countless times, tackling anything that came near him and earning himself the man of the match award. Alfie Lawrence showed his class again but was only allowed a cameo appearance due to being needed in the upcoming week. Sonny Hillier looked good until a nasty leg injury forced him from the park, a similar fate happening to Simon Garraway

Just before half-time veteran scrum-half Gav Harbour took a nasty knock to the head and this was one of the reasons the home team then began to struggle.

Dylan Scott seemed under the weather and tried to replicate his solid performance from the previous week but the effects of a mysterious illness were showing and a missed tackle allowed Andover to increase their lead. Bill Smith again showed that he still has great speed but the problem with playing with old people who occasionally play touch as opposed to a side that trains regularly together is that they were quicker to the breakdown and were able to turn the ball over.

Despite the sterling efforts of the ageing Jamie Glanville and elderly Kev White in the back row, Andover’s more youthful squad began to exploit the vastness of the Romsey pitch but the Romsey team never gave up with the score line of 5-49 not reflecting the effort and determination put in from a scratch side.

This week sees the 1st team host Eastleigh 2s at Ganger Farm, kick off 3pm with them going overseas on October 19 to Ventnor.

The next 2s game is on November 30 when we welcome Ellingham & Ringwood 3s/vets.