Fordingbridge 20
Old Whitgiftians 27

Old Whitgiftians proceded to the second round of the RFU Junior Vase competition after an impressive win over Fordingbridge.

Initial exchanges indicated Fordingbridge strength in lineout, but OWs forwards worked well and the team showed willingness to pass the ball around.

OWs grew in confidence but had to wait 25 minutes to get on the scoresheet, thanks to a well struck Coletta penalty.

After half-time, the hosts had the slight pitch advantage but from the re-start OWs played positively and continued to gain possession.

Fly-half Bloxham found a gap and put Coletta away to score in the corner, before Fordingbridge responded with a penalty.

Tuppen, Todd and Bloxham combined well for Coletta to run into space and his well-timed pass put Todd clear for a score. Coletta converted, and with 15 minutes on the clock, OW's were favourite to win the tie.

However OWs allowed the hosts back in the game by conceding a converted try.

Then followed an incident of high controversy. OWs were running the ball out of their 22. Fordingbridge's Dan Brown went for the interception, knocked the ball forward into the OW goal area and, while everyone stopped waiting for the referee's whistle, he touched down the ball, and the referee awarded a try.

Unexpectedly, the home team was two points ahead.

But Bloxham scored to put OWs back in the lead, and then after a further 10 minutes Steve Brown converted a long range penalty to level the scores and signal extra time.

Jim Ryan capped a superb game by scoring a try that Gordon Coletta converted. His proved to be the final score in a well contested match lasting a total of two hours and 15 minutes.