Creative H&B squeezed out in Vase thriller

They were ultimately edged out by a Southampton London League side that had just that little bit more physicality upfront, and a slight edge in defensive organisation wide out - and who used the vagaries of their wind-swept pitch knowingly. Far from throwing away their 10-0 half-time lead, H&B had it torn from them piece by piece by a team that matched them for motivation and determination and showed great character to twice come from behind.

H&B went into the game with three enforced new combinations: in the front row prop Steve Lovick at hooker for the first time in 12 years for the injured Ben Davies; in the back row George Cullingford and Paul Sandeman on the flanks for injured Roger Roberts and Andy Hitch; and in the back three Jimmy Adams in at fullback for injured Tom Brampton.

Lovick toyed with his team-mates' nerves by missing every single practice throw-in during the warm-up, then proceeded to show his big match temperament by giving an impeccable line-out performance in the game.

The front row held Trojans' big pack in the set piece, matched them in the lineout, and battled hard to try to contain them in ruck and maul. Only when Trojans' big inside centre cut an angle to slice through them on a couple of occasions did the pack's rugged defence show signs of creaking.

Illyan Granville and Tristan Todd worked hard up front, locks Martin Sheppard, the ever-improving Andy Dalton, and still-athletic sub Neil Redman were all sharp at the breakdown, and the backrow played their hearts out - the ubiquitous Paul Sandeman back in his favoured position covering vast amounts of ground to make telling tackles and charge-downs. If the back three at times lacked quite the defensive organisation of previous weeks, all three made up for it with some great individual try-saving tackles - especially by Danny Ralph at his pitbull best - and some intelligent support play, with hard-working Ben Campbell popping up on both wings.

H&B hit the ground running. Scrum half Piers Claughton, as usual harrassing, tackling and sniping relentlessly, nicked Trojans' ball from a breakdown, Kris Dempster darted and jinked towards the host's tryline, and won a penalty in the tackle, which his centre partner Dave Milham converted for a 0-3 lead.

Both sides' backlines attacked at every opportunity - Trojans mostly with long, well-judged kicks, H&B with dangerous running lines and sharp off-loading - and both sides defended fiercely, putting in some huge dump tackles and forcing turnovers. Indeed such was the commitment of both defences that potential scoring chances for both sides came primarily from turnovers.

It was from turnover ball that H&B's first try came: a skilful interception by Milham went to Kit Claughton and on to his brother who was dragged down. A quick ball from the consequent breakdown saw Kit throw a long miss-pass to Campbell, who raced the ball into the corner for a touchdown. Milham converted the difficult kick for a 0-10 lead. Despite repeated efforts by Trojans, H&B kept them out to hold their lead at half-time.

Trojans came out for the second half fired up for a win, and proceeded to use the wind and some well-judged kicking from hand to keep them in the game. A missed penalty kick in front of the posts by Trojans was followed by a good break by Milham and a grubber kick by Dempster to the corner, but Trojans cleared their lines, and launched a series of attacks, thwarted by some notable tackles by Kit and Sandeman. H&B in turn attacked resourcefully again and again, with quick hands and probing grubbers - they looked more creative with ball in hand than Trojans. But it was the hosts who got on the board next, with a penalty won after a wave of desperately repelled attacks. Almost immediately after, they equalised through a wave of attacks, culminating in quick ball to the right wing, who for once beat the scrambling cover defence, 10-10.

But H&B were not done. From the kick-off Sandeman charged down a clearance kick. The pack won the ensuing scrum against the head and Piers put his brother into a gap. Kit committed the fullback, popped to Dempster, who neatly passed the ball in the tackle to Piers, just metres from the try line, and the scrum half fed Ralph to finish off a quality try and retake the lead, 10-15.

Trojans tried to hit back immediately, but squandered a promising overlap with a knock-on. But then a difficult kick into the wind out of defence fell to Trojans' winger's hands, and he galloped in the try to take a hard-won 17-15 lead with minutes to go. By this time the pitch was littered with fallen players of both sides, simply played out by the pace and intensity of the action. It was exhaustion that confirmed the result; in a last attempt to snatch victory, number 8 Steve McManus - who had given his all throughout - bravely picked and drove from the base of a five-metre scrum, but supporting players couldn't get to him in time, he was turned over in the tackle, and Trojans' pack drove over H&B's tryline to close the game out, 22-15.

"We've no complaints," said head coach Roger Stanley. "Just as I don't think they'd have had any complaints if we'd won. It was a good game, well contested by both sides.

"Our backs put excellent movement and pace on the ball and attacked really well. Trojans attacked well too, but we shut the door on them in midfield. Our set scrum was good, the props did well, Steve Lovick had a good game, man-of-the-match George Cullingford was all over the pitch.

"They just proved a little too strong for us in the end. If there's a lesson for us, it's that we've got to sharpen up at the breakdowns."

Team: Todd, Lovick, Granville (P. Northen), Dalton (Redman), Sheppard, Cullingford, Sandeman, McManus, P. Claughton, K. Claughton, Ralph, Dempster, Milham, Campbell, Brampton. Sub: Vine.