A Hatrick from the Skipper

Fordingbridge led 7-0 at the break with a try from Jon Vass and a conversion from Dean Lewis.

Fordingbridge had prepared well in the warm up and with tricky conditions knew this was going to be a difficult match. They talked about a simple game plan, but decided to try and play like the Barbarians after the first try, with long miss passes and opting to run the ball rather than keep the score board ticking over.

Fordingbridge knew they had to go back to basics in the second half and with the wind at their backs, James Suswain began controlling the match at 10, with inspired running lines and raking kicks peppering the corners, which kept Fordingbridge on the front foot.

Philip Collier was in fine form, often breaking the gain line and looking for offloads which invariably came off. Chris Gogin controlled the game from 9, bossing the pack and looks like he is back to his old form.

It was from Chris Gogin and the forward pack that the next try came from. After mauling Salisbury towards their own line, Craig Stocker ran a perfect lead runner line, and broke the Salisbury defence spinning his way towards the line.

Whilst it sounds as if it was a forward dominated victory, the back line, now it has played together for a few weeks is beginning to click, with them often pulling off pre planned moves. Tim Beer in the centre despite his diminutive size is putting in massive hits and is a force to be reckoned with.

Josh Field a convert from the 'Other' game is gaining confidence, and his attacking and defending is coming on leaps and bounds.

Fordingbridge continued attacking through their forwards, with a solid line out, with Dave Gogin fully justifying his selection stealing quite a bit of Salisbury ball, which led to many forays into the Salisbury 22, it was only going to be a matter of time before the next try came, again scored by Jon Vass and Converted by Dean Lewis.

With the game almost won Fordingbridge were putting themselves under pressure to score a bonus point try. This looked like it would never come, but Jon Vass scored through a mass of bodies, his total yardage in scoring his trio of tries couldn't have added up to 1. This was again converted by Dean Lewis.

A fantastic game of rugby played in the right spirit, which was refereed in the right spirit, a credit to the game of rugby.

A week off for the second XV, but we are trying to arrange a blues game, could all players who are available, please get in touch with JV or Gogs.