A Development squad went to Haslemere on an overcast but warm Sunday. In total 22 boys were available and due to Haslemere being short on numbers Olli Harrison and Sam Steel volunteered to play for them.

Due to a sevens tournament on the same day there were several players playing in unfamiliar positions. (Matt Butler at inside centre and Tom Strachan at number 8.)  We also had a new fly half in Max Harsham.  The early exchanges were all in Alton's half but solid defence repelled the Haslemere attacks and finally Alton broke into the Haslemere half.  Unfortunately the move broke down and Haslemere countered effectively and scored the first try of the match, which was successfully converted.

The second Haslemere try came from a lost lineout ball that the Fly Half made a lovely break and scored under the posts converting his try. 

Alton finally managed to get some field position and from a lineout on the 5 metre line Strachan drove from the back of the maul to score in the corner.  After a period of pressure a quick tap was taken by Rhys Jenkins and he ran over for a well taken try.  Alton were competing well at breakdown and scrum and getting a fair share of ball but from another dropped pass Haslemere countered and scored a converted try just before half time.

Alton made several changes at half time to give all squad members game time and this seemed to cause a bit of disruption with 3 very weak tries conceded due to very poor tackling straight after half time.  One of these was converted.

After the slack tackling at the start of the second half Alton managed to regroup and again started to win the breakdown and were dominant at the scrum.  From another period of pressure on the Haslemere line an offside decision was given and a quick tap was taken passing out to Jenkins who powered over in the corner.

On reflection this game was a good opportunity to give game time to more players and as the game went on so confidence improved.  The biggest disappointment was the lack of concentration after half time and some weak tackling in open play, an area we will concentrate on in the next training sessions.