Coming off the back of a very successful trip over to Ventnor last week, Romsey
looked to build on that performance this week when they welcomed Andover 2s to
Ganger Farm. Romsey welcomed back Brad Piper and Mathew Reid, who played
their first games for the club this season, into the second row while Will Harrison
made his first start for the club. Having come off second best to Andover both times
the teams met last season Romsey knew it would be a tough, physical game.
The match started with Romsey coming out the block quickly earning a penalty
inside the first 2 minutes of the game a couple metres infront of the Andover 10
metre line. Jim Lamont returning to the 10 shirt comfortably slotted the penalty to
give Romsey the early lead. After the restart another Andover penalty allowed
Romsey to put the pressure on with a good kick to the edge of the Andover 22. A
Lineout which was almost flawless the week before went astray letting the pressure
off. Over the next 10 minutes, Andover grew into the game with a couple of strong
carries from their forwards. But a moment of illdiscipline from Andover gave Lamont
another chance to increase the lead which he took with a great kick to put Romsey
6-0 up.

After the restart Andover found their feet and pinned Romsey back deep into their 22
but some strong defence kept them out until the 34th minute of the game where after
20 phase’s Andover found a way through to put themselves into a one point lead.
After a brutal half of play, in which Romsey found themselves without the ball for a lot
of it, Andover managed to get another score just before halftime. To pull a little in
front but it was a very even half of play.

Going into the second half Romsey looked to continue the good defensive work and
try to get the ball into their hands a little bit more and play with the ablility they
showed in the game the week prior. The new centre partnership of Ed Davies and
Tyler Beardsley made ground every time they got the ball but unfortunately Andover
were very quick to the breakdowns which meant Romsey couldn’t take advantage.
Some excellent lineout defense by Andover gave them the upper hand for the rest of
the game didn’t allow Romsey to use what was their biggest advantage from the
week before. Andover continued to batter Romsey with their forwards for the rest of
the game earning themselves the first score of the second half to take their lead to
6-21. Romsey kept this scoreline until the 70th minute where injuries and the brutality
of defending for most of the game took its toll and in the last 10 minutes Andover
where able to add a couple to tries to inflate the score to 6-33.

After a brutal first 6 weeks of the season Romsey go into the second rest week 4th in
the table with 2 wins 2 draws and the single loss. Romsey are back in action with an
away trip to Overton on the 9th of November.

Coaches Comment:
“The lads defended well against a much bigger pack with a simple game plan of use
the big lads to punch wholes, the Romsey lads stood up to this for 70 mins where the
score was 6-21 unfortunately injuries took a toll. The lads showed great
determination and there’s plenty to come from this group I have no doubt.” Jason
Berry Head Coach.

Captains Comment:
“I thought our first half effort really showed this team can compete with any team in
this league. Unfortunately injuries and unavailability hurt us today. We will take this
first loss and build from it for Overton in 2 weeks time.”