ROMSEY Rugby Club fell to defeat against early Hampshire League title favourites Fordingbridge last weekend.

Romsey assembled a young squad to take on Fordingbridge and both sides made a vibrant start, with each team playing running rugby. Romsey looked like they had been fired up by the coaches and the captains, and were putting in shuddering tackles left, right and centre. Fordingbridge were more clinical with the ball, however, and were making more ground than the home side. A clumsy tackle by Matt Sparkes gave him ten minutes in the sin-bin and put Romsey down to 14 men. Fordingbridge took advantage and put 14 points on the scoreboard.

Romsey fought back, however, and pushed the visitors deep into their half, resulting in a score. Romsey’s second score would come late in the first half as the Backs made a sublime break down the sideline and by using swift hands and offloads shredded the previously solid Fordingbridge defence.

The second half opened much the same as the first half and with Romsey having emptied their bench, they had some fresh legs on the field to cause some havoc. It worked, as Fordingbridge were knocked back by the onslaught of blue and gold. The visitors proved to be as resilient as they had been in the first half and defended well, but Romsey were not to be denied, and after some continuous play and the ball touching the majority of hands on the way through, they scored in the corner. Fly-half Alex Lee unfortunately put the kick wide left.

Fordingbridge then took the upper hand, driving deep into Romsey territory with intelligent running and subtle off-loads. The visitors upped the tempo and for the tired bodies of the Romsey team this meant defensive mistakes and Fordingbridge eventually ran out 40-16 winners.

For Romsey, despite being a disappointing loss, there was much to be cheerful for as the squad had shown enterprise with the ball, and were showing signs of gelling as a team.