Andover 59 Eastleigh 10

Saxon Safety sponsored Andover consolidated their position in second place in the league with an emphatic victory over old rivals Eastleigh at the Goodship Ground last Saturday.

Fog almost threatened to stop the fixture, but in the end Andover were glad it cleared up enough, as they ran in nine tries to seal another superb performance.

Normally close opponents Eastleigh, apart from the first 20 minutes, were not themselves, and once the 'All Blacks' had weathered the early storm, excellent work by Bryn Waite sent Max Graham clear, and the young scrum half sprinted over with Rich Retallick converting superbly from wide out.

Andover poured on the pressure with man of the match Jake Dixon and skipper Alex Hibdige involved in everything and soon went further ahead. After a series of phases from another Graham break, George Goodridge and Stan North combined to send James Monck over again converted by Retallick.

Eastleigh hit back soon after with a try of their own but Andover soon regained control when from a lineout move Tom Erskine dived over for the first of his brace.

After the break playing down the slop Andover took total control. With Matt Green and Roman Barton-Knott adding pace to the back row and Fin Waite power in the front row, the forwards began to have a field day, giving the backs even more opportunity to exploit the increased space on offer.

From a goal line drop out Jake Harwood set off on one of his trade mark mazy runs to finish under the posts before Erskine added another from the back of a ruck, both converted by Retallick.

Eastleigh to their credit pulled another try back but Andover were relentless.

Dixon complimented his physicality with a pacey run from 40 meters to score a fine try, and not to be outdone flanker Bry Waite did likewise from even further out, with Retallick again converting both.

Next a great run from the returning Tommy Lloyd on the wing sent Harrison Pape over for a lovely try before the same player completed the scoring late on after a fine break and offload from Nic Reed with Retallick completing the conversion to wrap things up.

Afterwards, director of rugby Andy Waite said: "This was another fine performance from us. some of our young players like Arlo Matley are starting to develop into the higher level, and it was great to see Charlie Waite leading by example even managing some time in the back row. I'd also like to mention our former academy player Louis Davies who was Eastleigh's man of the match today, great to see him doing well there."