Swindon St George travelled with a small squad of fourteen players to play a Southampton side whose previous outing had been a resounding victory over a RAF representative side. St George rested a few senior players for this friendly fixture enabling assistant coach, Phil Weigh, to give some of the more junior players a run out.

Swindon kicked off and started strongly, dominating their opponents in both attack and defence. Swindon were playing some excellent rugby, however, it took seventeen minutes for them to open the scoring. After a move out to the right hand side, an inside pass from Ben Bridson, enabled debutant Shaun Appleyard, to use his strength to crash over the line. James slatter converted the try.

Southampton kicked off to restart the game and Swindon failed to complete their set of six, giving away a penalty which gave the Spitfires their first possession in good field position. Swindon's defence held strong but late in Southampton's set of 6, St George gave a penalty away, giving the home team a further 6 tackles. The pressure eventually told and Southampton moved the ball wide to score in the corner. The conversion was missed.

St George were the next to score as Max Robinson broke through a couple of Spitfire tacklers before using an outrageous dummy, fooling both the full-back and the winger, to score in the corner. James Slatter missed this conversion.

Swindon scored on their next set of 6. Some strong running from the St George forwards put them in good field position. A quick play-the-ball and offload to Luke Grant, allowed the strong running centre to hold off the would-be tacklers to score. James Slatter, back on form, converted the try.

Half time Southampton 4 Swindon 16

Swindon started the second half a little lax as their defence failed to move up which allowed Southampton to make good yards. From this advantage they scored their second try which they also converted.

Swindon soon reorganised and took the game back to Southampton, scoring a well worked try. A slick passing move from forwards, Carl Baker and Jermaine Edwards, created a gap for centre Eddie Curtis who raced away to score. James Slatter missed this conversion.

Southampton made a few changes to their team and with fresh legs started to put St George under pressure. Swindon were defending their own line time after time but held out with some great defence. After nearly 10 mins of battering at the resilient Swindon side, Southampton managed to break the line and score. The converted try brought the home side to within four points of Swindon St George.

From the restart, a strong tackle from Swindon's Michael Fitchett caused a knock on, giving Swindon possession. With the next few tackles, Swindon worked the ball down close to the Southampton try line. Hooker, Chris Coupar, faked a pass before diving through the gap to score. James Slatter converted the try.

Southampton scored another converted try to again bring the game back to within reach, with only four points between the two sides.

On 72 minutes, Swindon's James Slatter suffered an ankle injury which saw him stretchered from the pitch. This left an already tired St George side to play the final eight minutes with no interchanges available. However, Swindon showed true grit and dominated their opponents for the next seven minutes. In the final minute, Chris Coupar scored his second try of the game by handing off his opposite number to score. He converted his own try as the final whistle blew.

Assistant coach, Phil Weigh, commented 'We were able to try a few younger players and experiment with a few different moves. We passed the ball well in attack and our defence was solid throughout. The team should be very proud of themselves.'