Seniors

Fixtures

All matches have been played for this season. Please check back later in the year.

l League game hb Hampshire Bowl game f Friendly jv RFU Junior Vase mt Merit Table c Cup game sl Solent League game hl Hampshire League hp Hampshire Premiership

2020/21 season

Senior Coaching Team

Head Coach

James Croker

Assistant Coach

tba

First XV Captain

Matt Lovell

Manager

Caroline Clark

Second XV Captain

Adrian Payne

Manager

Lloyd Bennett

Third XV Captain

Tim Grant

Manager

Mitch Williams

Results

First XV

Match Report

29th February: London Exiles RFC at home

Eastleigh hoped for a quick and dominant start however this was quite different to what happened; straight from the kickoff, the London Exiles second row broke through the home side’s defence and as the ball was shipped wide, the visitors scored in the corner. This was shortly followed up by a penalty to give the visiting side an early 0-8 lead.

From this point onwards, Eastleigh began to dominate the rest of the half; James Mitchell and Ryan Kelly both bulldozed over for a try each and these were followed up by a brilliant solo effort from Adam Gallagher who raced down the right flank for the score.

The home side’s superb discipline began to pay off as Eastleigh were the ones who were rewarded with a penalty in which Matt Lovell converted to take a 22-8 lead into half time.

Eastleigh’s defence was tested in the second half but they were able to turn defence into attack very quickly; Will Rigglesford cleared the ball long and Adam Gallagher managed to gather, kick ahead and dot down for another fantastic individual effort.

Panos Logothetis and Dan Henry continued to break the gain line when in attack and as James Mitchell floated the ball out wide to Matt Lovell, he was able to beat the covering defence to score in the corner.

These scores extended the home side’s advantage to 32-8 before the travelling side fought back with two tries of the own to reduce the deficit to a final score of 32-18.

Man of the match: Panos Logothetis

Match Report by Joshua Devereux

Match Report

22nd February: Battersea Ironsides RFC away

After recent impressive away form, Eastleigh were back on the road as they travelled to Battersea Ironsides to play in another top of the table clash. After a disappointing first half for the visitors, the home side were able to dominate proceedings and took a well deserved 10-0 lead going into half time. Eastleigh came out of the blocks fighting in the second half but it was Battersea who recorded their try third try of the match. The visiting side began to start maintaining possession and strong carries from Jack Berry and Will Rigglesford enabled them to edge towards the try line. After a number of phases, the ball was recycled out wide where Adam Gallagher dotted down in the corner. Matt Lovell converted from out wide to reduce the deficit to 15-7. Richie O’Donnell and James Mitchell continued to put their body on the line for their team as Eastleigh looked for a further score. It appeared that Will Rigglesford had grounded the ball for a try but the referee deemed it as a knock on so we went back to the original penalty in which Matt Lovell slotted home, 15-10. As minutes remained, the visitors continued to search for the winning score but they left it too late as Battersea regained possession and kicked it into touch.

Man of the match: Richie O’Donnell

Match Report by Joshua Devereux