Despite another week of heavy rain and TV reports of an inundated Romsey town, the rugby pitch at Romsey Sports Centre was in remarkably good condition.

Although there were puddles in various places the playing surface stood up well.

With the very strong wind blowing diagonally across the park behind them Romsey kicked off with Ed Lowman catching the ball cleanly and kicking to touch. From the resultant line-out, the home pack drove hard to the line and Alton were lucky that the referee did not award a try. This was a warning which Alton did not heed and soon Romsey were 5 – 0 up and soon doubling this when weak tackling gave them too much freedom.

Alton closed the gap when after some good passing and support work they threatened the line only for Romsey to transgress. Second row, Bruce Oliphant was able to take the penalty quickly and crash over.

Alton conceded a further try, this time to the Romsey backs, which was converted, producing a half-time score of 17 – 5.

With the ever strengthening wind at their backs, Alton dominated most of the second half, scoring two tries to the home team’s one. The first came when the Alton pack pressurised a set scrum and the home scrum-half trying to clear had his kick charged down by number 8, Tyrone Miles. Miles was able to follow up and ground the ball beneath the posts with Simon Ford collecting the extra two points. The second came when Alton hooker, Luke Parratt hooked against the head and the visiting backs worked the ball both ways across the park, eventually grounding the ball in goal with Ford again making the conversion.

Despite more and more pressure by Alton to get another try, Romsey were able to survive an exciting second half recovery by Alton.

Alton are beginning to show again that they are a team with skill and spirit. Although this was a game that Alton had needed to win and despite their generosity in the first half, allowing Romsey to score three tries, they did secure a valuable losing bonus point. This keeps Romsey below them in the league,albeit by the one point!

The matchday referee was Ian Britton (HRURS).

This weekend, with the now usual proviso that a pitch will be playable, Alton welcome old rivals Andover to Anstey Park kick-off 14:30.  Any change of venue will be posted on Alton’s web site - www.alton-rfc.com.

In the earlier  November league fixture, Andover won 107 – 3; Alton being so badly affected by a lack of available players that Will Brewer, their head coach, had to take the field himself just so Alton had at least fourteen players on the park!  Recently Alton’s selection has become more stable and with the recent improvement in results they will be looking to give Andover a warm welcome.