Alresford snatch victory with almost the last play of the match to win 30 - 27

To further breakdown the soccer pundit’s favourite expression about a game of two halves, this was definitely a game of four quarters. We rushed into an early lead with unconverted tries from Peter Scott and man of the match Mat Norton and a penalty from Jamie Tryska. Half way through the first half it seemed like we were in complete control.
At this point and almost simultaneously two things happened. We took our foot off the gas and Alresford switched on and the second quarter was a complete mirror image of the first. Alresford scored two unconverted tries and a penalty to bring the scores level at thirteen points each at the break. With things all square it was still anybody’s game and all we had to do was get back to our levels in the first quarter.
As the second half got underway though it was clear that Alresford still had the upper hand and after forty five minutes scored the first converted try of the afternoon. As they followed this up with a penalty their lead stretched to twenty three to thirteen and it was starting to look a long way back for us.
However, as the first half showed, this was a see saw game with two sides playing good quality rugby and the advantage swung back our way after we scored two tries in quick succession. The first, a superb break from Mark Hammond to run three quarters of the pitch to touch down and the second a well worked Sam Broderick try. With Jamie Tryska converting both we were again back in the driving seat and leading twenty seven points to twenty three.
There was, of course, one more twist in the match when the very quick Alresford winger scored a fine long distance try under the posts to give them a slim three point lead with two minutes to go. We had the option to draw the game with a last minute long range penalty but opted to go for the corner and the win. It was however not to be, and the final whistle went to end a very exciting, enjoyable and close game of rugby.
It was a disappointed team in the changing rooms as we rued what could have been and felt we should have won the game. That is not to take anything away from Alresford who played their fair share in making this a great game to watch. We did come away with two losing bonus points which means we retain our position of fourth in the league but after beating Fareham Heathens, Millbrook are now only three points behind us.