Dunlop 31 - 39 Southam

This was game of two forces, Southam's dominant backs and Dunlop's rolling forwards, Southam had early domination with interception on the Southam 22 by hooker Sam Deeming and seeing that he was going to lose the 70m footrace, neatly grubbed up the pitch to 10m from the Dunlop line. Southam stole the lineout and spread it wide, fullback Will Clark 10 stepped inside, beat 2 men and touched down, converted by captain Will Grindal. Southam scored again from a similar position, finding wing forward Pete Burnell at first receiver, who drew the defence and then floated a long pass to centre Will Wood, Wood grubbed through and picked up his own kick to go over for the try. Dunlop then got into the game from a lineout on the Southam 22 and drove through repeated phases over for the converted try.

Southam replied straight from the kick off with a 40m penalty by Grindal for holding on and then moved further forward with another, starting from a scrum on the Dunlop 22 and then a half break from fly half Harry Hewson who fed the supporting Wood, Wood quickly moved it onto Clark and he weaved through for his second, converted by Grindal. Dunlop responded with another rolling drive from a lineout on the Southam 22 finished off with a blindside 5m break for the converted try. HT 14 - 22

Dunlop kicked off, but ball did not go 10m and from the resulting scrum No8 Finch picked up, fed scrumhalf Tom Reeve, who put a chip onto the Dunlop 22, the ball bounced nicely and was collected by Finch, who drove on, drew the last defender and put winger Ally Thorpe in for the try, converted by Grindal. Southam then had to defend for several minutes and mistakes at the base, allowed Dunlop to camp in the Southam 22 and continue their driving game and after multiple phases, they spread the ball for the centre to sneak over for a converted try, Southam responded with the best try of the game, from a lineout on Dunlop, well taken by 2nd row Dave Harris, the ball was spread and then from a double interchange between Hewson and centre Tom Grime, the pass to Wood let him clean through, Wood drew the last man and fed Thorpe for his second, converted by Grindal.

Dunlop then entered a period of domination, but Southam made them work through at least 20 phases of driven and recycled ball before going over for the try in the corner. Towards the end of the game, that had been seen few incidents, a yellow card was awarded to the Dunlop 6, for a head stamp and Dunlop finished with another driven try at the death.

FT 31 - 39

The first win of the campaign and a maximum 5 points for this young team, a few unforced errors, but these will surely reduce as the team gels. This team definitely has confidence in their own abilities and with a solid scrum and lineout and sparkling backs, they are playing some crowd pleasing rugby.