Totts 2s 19 Soton Medics 10 – Report

Tottonians 2s took centre stage on Saturday and played out a highly entertaining contest with Southampton University Medics, holding out for a 19-10 victory on a sun-drenched Water Lane.

TOTTONIANS II 19 SOUTHAMPTON UNIVERSITY MEDICS 10
Water Lane, Totton
Saturday 5th October 2024
Friendly match

Despite Tottonians dominating the early phases of the game, it was the youthful visitors that took the lead after just nine minutes when a good spell of play took them over the line in the corner.

But the home side bounced back and the impressive Oli King, who was everywhere during the game causing the Medics a major headache, drive through the middle and found a sizable gap due breach the visitors defensive line, Rich Colmer adding the extras.

In an end-to-end encounter where handling errors cost both sides on many an occasion, the score remained at 7-5 at the break although there were a number of opportunities which were not taken.

One that was came ten minutes into the second half and it was, by far, the try of the match.  From a line out, the students passed the ball through the backs, before switching inside to the full-back who cut through the middle of the Tottonians defence, spreading the ball wide to his support and they went over in the corner.  It was a very impressive score and gave them a 10-7 advantage.

That lead lasted just 11 minutes when, from a five metre penalty which was quickly taken, the drive was held short initially but excellent recycling allowed prop Harry Morse to charge over from close range, Colmer hitting the extra two points superbly with the wind.

The game was sealed with just four minutes left on the clock when an excellent catch and drive from the line out set up a ruck from which the excellent Finn Goodridge took the pass close by to cross for Tottonians’ third try.

A healthy crowd of over 100 enjoyed the sunshine and it was a fine game of rugby between two evenly matched sides with coach Louis Brencher admitting that the mix of players from all three senior sides was great to see and has given the selectors a major issue in the coming weeks!

Hear what coach Louis Brencher had to say at full-time in our exclusive post match video (apologies for the poor sound quality)