Match Report
Southampton 44-20 S London II
Southampton started off strongly in this tightly contested London League Quarter Final, racing into a 10-0 Lead after only ten
minutes. First to cross was centre Ryan Keary who picked a great line out wide to carve through the South London defence, and
minutes later Southampton were on the score sheet again after Australian loose forward Wade Quinn found a huge gap in the middle
of the e. Half-back Scotty Hancock kicked the goal to extend the lead to 10-0.
South London then woke up and scored two quick tries to get back in the game. Both came from poor Southampton discipline which
gave the visitors excellent field position. From these positions both times they spun the ball wide to cross near the corner.
The game stayed tied for the next twenty minutes until centre Keary – again running strongly – hit a gap to score out wide,
giving the Spitfires the lead once more. However, it was short lived as errors and missed tackles allowed the Storm to score
again leaving the teams tied 14-14 at half time.
Defence was to be the key to winning this game and the Spitfires raised their defensive efforts in the second period, and held
out from strong Storm pressure early in the half. This effort spurred the home side on as they went on a scoring spree scoring
five tries in a 30 minute spell. First to cross was Stand-off Pierre Molyneaux who supported a good off load from Quinn. Pierre
then showed his strength to brush off the full backs attempted tackle and score. Next on the score sheet was centre Keary who
crossed out wide for his hat trick after a good ball from the in form Scrum Half Scott Hancock. Full back Aaron Nelson scored
next from 20 meters out after good footwork left the Storm defence for dead. The fourth try in this half came from Scott Hancock
who took on the defence out wide and even though tackled manage to spin free to score again to make it 36-14, Hancock again added
the extras to leave the home side in control at 38-14.
With the game won the South London team looked tired and more lazy defence allowed Darryl Bray to break free to score under the
posts leaving Hancock an easy conversion to make the scores 44 – 14. South London continued to work hard and were awarded with a
try and conversion in the last minute of the game leaving the final score 44-20.