Played in atrocious conditions, both sides made a great game of it as spectators cheered their teams on and received a good soaking for their troubles. The match ended with both sides down to 14 as injuries took their toll and both teams ran out of subs. Alton started this game without four players who were attending the U14 Hampshire trials. This produced a very even contest and quite a few Alton players had to step up in the absence of their usual leaders and playmakers.

Man of the match for Alton was inside centre Josh Smith who carried strongly and ran in a brace of tries. The Alton backline was run by James Forrest who played very ambitious rugby given the conditions. It was Forrest's neat grubber kick that turned the onrushing Eastleigh defence, Josh Smith followed up with a controlled kick ahead and dive over the line for the first score of the game. This was after some surging forward play by Eastleigh saw them fumble the ball right on the try line.

The Eastleigh Pirates played the stormy conditions better and kept it tight up front, their heavier pack rumbled forward throughout the game with driving mauls and neat offloads. The away team's backs suffered from the inevitable fumbles with cold and wet hands, much the same affected Alton's back play though they persisted with an ambitious game plan based on keeping the ball away from the bigger Eastleigh pack.

Jack Messenger, Alton's right wing, received the ball wide out after some loose play and scorched his way 60 meters down the line and around to dab the ball down under the posts which James Forrest duly converted.

Josh Smith scored his second try in the right corner after another strong run and the sides turned around 17-0 at half time. Alton would then be playing down the slight slope but into the teeth of what was fast becoming gale force, horizontal driving rain and hailstones.  Eastleigh continued to prosper from their forward oriented game plan and Alton were rarely out of their half in the second half. The wind was so strong that Alton were unable to kick for territory, it would simply have blown back and behind them.

Eastleigh scored two tries, one converted to put themselves back in the game but not before James Forrest grabbed a try after a neat handling move involving Ed Pasfield and Ollie Dickson saw the left wing, Ewan Pickering, tackled just before the line. As Eastleigh went down to 14, Alton's Joe Randall was pressed into service on the Eastleigh left wing and promptly put in two bone-crunching tackles to maintain the Pirate's pressure on Alton's line. As Alton continued to suffer injuries and knocks and went down to 14 themselves, Joe was withdrawn to keep the teams on equal numbers.

The Eastleigh left wing was hospitalised after reporting sharp pains in the neck and all at Alton wish him a speedy recovery.

Alton points:

Tries - Josh Smith (2), Jack Messenger, James Forrest

Conversions - James Forrest (1)

Alton squad:

Alex Heath, Ed Pasfield, Richard Blizzard, Alfonso Ledesma, Jay Norton, Stan Burrows, Cameron Lockie, Joe Randall, Doug Lowe, Ben Coleman, Jake Hadley, Ollie Brench, Charlie Rands, James Forrest, Ewan Pickering, Josh Smith, Ollie Dickson, Jack Messenger, James Airey