The sun blessed us with another glorious day to play rugby in, as the previous encounters for Twick away here haven’t been the most glorious of conditions.

The side on the day;
Forwards; Penson, B.Goddard & Fyles were the front row, skip Banks was joined by Knight as locks & Jasper, Mooro & Smithy combined again as back row.
Backs; Wirhgt & S.Goddard teamed up as half backs, Jash & Lurch in the centres & Polley, Rose & JH were the back 3.
Replacements: Scotty, Speakin & Stagg were the chosen ones.

The game got underway and immediately you could tell Ts were pumped, but so were the home side, Eastleigh (Es) controlling most of the possession early on in the fixture, using their big pack and strong backs runners they were throwing hammer and tong at Ts. But this week the tackling was a lot lower and the intensity had increased from the previous week.

However, it wasn’t until 7 minutes into the fixture that a few lackadaisical tackles and errors meant Es were able to get their dangerous offloading game going and found themselves under the posts to take them 7-0 up.

Wrighty & Goddard linked up well using the forward in the right areas of the field and the forward managing to keep ball in the right areas of the field. But Es strong defence was able to keep Ts at bay throughout the onslaught. Again, it would be Es who struck back with the next score, stretching the Ts defence across the park they were able to suck in much of the defence before spotting the gaps and making it 14-0.

But from the restart & some pressure defence from Ts, we were able regain possession and attack with great field position. Smithy, Banks & Jasper running well in the forwards, then good link up play in the backs released Rose out wide but unable to convert. The pressure began to mount before the skipper Banks found himself in space and heading over to open up the Ts account & Goddard makes it 7.

The strong D continued from Ts for the remainder of the half, after Dom almost killed a guy, he was then unfortunate to twist his knee forcing an early exit, along with an Es prop who also had an unfortunate injury to the knee, who we wish all the best on their speedy recoveries.

Although Ts had manage to keep this game a lot tighter that previous encounters away at Es. Es benefitted from a lucky mistake as the ball came off a Ts player before being touch down in goal to give E a 5m scrum. Off the back of this they were able to break away and get a final score to make it 21-7 to the home side.

Stagg, Scott & Speakin were all on the field to make an impact coming into the 2nd half. The game gets underway once again, but the bounce of the ball was on Es side in the immediate minutes of the 2nd half as they took advantage off deep field position and pressured Ts deep in their half. This lead to an Es scrum which they used their strong centre runners to suck in the defence and offloaded to get an early score stretching it to 28-7.

But this maybe was the catalyst Ts required, from the next restart Ts seemed to raise the level of intensity. Polley & Rose were being utilised out wide, then Fyles, Penson, Scotty & Goddard all trucking up the ball well. As the backs worked around the corner, a gap opened for Wrighty has he sniped for the corner, put the burners on and closed the gap again, the players were delighted as nobody could keep up, Goddard unable to make the extras 28-12 to Es.

With the increase in speed of play and the structure Ts managed to get themselves in penalties begun to fall Ts way, opting for the corner and using the forwards to draw in the defence seemed to work well, from that a gap had opened and the pure class, elegance & sheer brilliance of JH found himself behind enemy lines, as the last ditch tackle came in 5 metres out, John-Bill Williams popped to Rose who dotted down, Goddard able to add the extras and now 28-19.

Ts tails were up, not to say that E still weren't defending strong around the park and running the ball back with venom but it seemed Ts had hit their stride, Es no longer able to utilise their offloading game as much & Ts finding the gaps more. Attacking all across the park Polley, Stagg & Rose found themselves breaking the line and taking the Ts attacking field position further up the park, followed by the heavy duty runners from the pack Ts were hunting for another score, it came again through Rose once more, Goddard again solid off the T and close it to 28-26.

As the clock was ticking away it got to within the final 10, and Es struck next, they were hurling down the wing before a last ditch hit from Rose came in but then the Es entourage continued the speed and ferocity meant they were able to get over once more extending their lead to 9 points 35-26.

BUT as they say, ‘its not over until the fat lady sings’, we didn’t hear any singing at that point! So Ts came back again, the restart mounted more pressure and managed to turn over ball, with about 4 minutes left, Es were pinning Ts back as much as possible and forcing Ts to play out. But it would Es own penalty count that let them down, as Goddard was able to take us further up the field from the boot, the well working lineouts meant the forwards were on the march.

Then Ts awarded a penalty middle of the park just inside the opposition half, JH took it upon himself to go quick, with every other Ts player, coaching staff & fans F’ing & blinding “F***ing idiot, what are you doing” in the background, JH continues to beat not 1, not 2, not 3 but 4 defenders, the shouts begin to change into murmurs of “go on…. Go on!” then after getting caught and scragged toward the ground, Samuels bellows “who’s with him”….. like a knight in shining armour Jash comes steaming through the opposition broken defence to get on the end of Sonny-Henry Smith’s offload to put him under the sticks & Goddard brings it back to a 2 point difference…… 35-33 with 2 minutes remain on the clock could it be done….

With the wind in their wings, Ts begin the march once again, leaving everything they had on the park they stuck to what was working, quick forward play, then releasing the backs out wide, Es were on the backfoot but they were by no means giving up. A penalty, about 40 metres out and to the left of the posts Goddard nominates himself, he pushes it wide and Es are let off but must restart the game from a 22m restart.

Was that it, their final opportunity squandered, the forwards regain possession, Ts do whatever it takes to keep ball, whether that meant going forward or accepting the tackle, all 30 players at this stage are flagging but the game continued and Ts were not done yet, as they continue to march forward one last penalty, the ref ‘this is the last play of the game’… Joe Samuel's “tap & go, goooo goo”… Banks turns, looks to Goddard and gives him the nod “posts please sir”

Goddard has the opportunity once again to clutch a win from the jaws of defeat at a ground they’ve never won before against a team who trounced them on this pitch just last season, so there was no pressure. Steps up, nudge goes up, it wasn't pretty by any means, but the Ts boys followed it up and the cheers roared as the flags go up and the whistle is blown for full time, Ts had the win 36-35 in a epic contest down at Eastleigh.

Ts continue their campaign next week back at Parkfields as they take on Farnham in what will follow the tough start to the season but welcome the contest.

MOTM: Smithy, B&S.Goddard, Jash, JH Scotty, and others had some great games, but the skipper lead by example and was awarded the accolade.
DOTD: was easy, our commander and chief telling us to tap and go with no time on the clock instead of going for the win, Samuels won that.

Thanks again for the read.
Until next time
JH