In-form U13s Continue Winning Streak at Eastleigh

Never mind grinding out a single-point victory, Gosport and Fareham U13 showed how to win in style against determined opposition A fine team performance and some stunning individual displays saw Gosport finish convincing winners, outscoring Eastleigh four tries to one.
By recent standards, the game was a little slow to get going as the two sets of forwards battled for dominance. Eastleigh had the upper hand at the scrum, although they largely failed to make the most of this advantage and achieve any real penetration. The battle of the breakdown was more evenly contested, with both sides winning their share of turnover ball – Gosport looked far more dangerous, though, when the ball was spread wide.
An early scare for Gosport came when Eastleigh intercepted and looked to have a scoring opportunity until a great tackle from Jake Moseley stopped them in their tracks. Eastleigh enjoyed several phases of possession in the Gosport half but, with their backs taking the ball deep and static, the Gosport defence was up quickly and Eastleigh had nowhere to go. The first try of the game came on 11 minutes as Gosport won a line-out on their own throw, spread the ball wide and found man-of-the-match, Jake Moseley, who ran the ball in from about 70 metres out to score under the posts. If the game had been a bit of an arm wrestle up to that point, the try gave Gosport a boost which allowed them to build momentum and start taking control of the game.
Connor Parkinson made a break up the middle of the field after Gosport secured the restart, Eastleigh managed to stop him and turned the ball over. Possession changed hands a couple of times before Eastleigh finally won it back and made a break of their own, which ended with a characteristically solid tackle from Stephen Cheatle.
Eastleigh launched an attack down the right wing from their own scrum but found themselves tackled into touch. Gosport secured their own line-out ball but knocked on to give possession back to Eastleigh who, despite winning plenty of clean ball from the set piece, couldn't find a way through the blue & yellow wall and elected to kick - big mistake. The kick was charged down, Jack Haggard made a clean break and offloaded to Moseley who scored under the posts again.
Gosport went on the attack again early in the second half, Cheatle linking with Moseley, then out to Rhys Morgan on the wing to take play up to the Eastleigh 10 metre line. However, Gosport's efforts were frustrated by a series of penalties to Eastleigh, some of which seemed somewhat harsh. On this occasion, an Eastleigh penalty took them up to half way but they were soon back under pressure in their own 22 as a Matthew John tackle led to a turnover for Gosport.
Several phases of Eastleigh possession then followed as they were awarded a succession of scrums and penalties. After Eastleigh were given a penalty for a high tackle deep inside the Gosport 22, it was almost inevitable that they would score and, despite some determined defending from Gosport, they squeezed over the line for a five-pointer.
At this point of the game, 14-5 probably wasn't a fair reflection of how well Gosport had played but it didn't take them too long to do something about it. Eastleigh won a scrum against the head but clearly didn't fancy their chances against the Gosport defence and kicked the ball away. The ball was gathered by Morgan, who ran cross-field, then straightened up to make about 20 yards. Some superb support play allowed Morgan to offload in the tackle to Parkinson and keep the move alive. The ball moved out wide through James Cutler then Joe Bunn, before finding it's way out to Moseley who, almost inevitably, ran in down the left wing and scored under the posts.
Gosport started well after gathering the restart, looking to attack from their own 22 before losing possession again at the scrum, only for Eastleigh to kick it away again. Gosport attacked again from their own line-out but lost the ball at the breakdown as Eastleigh drove over brilliantly.
Probably the key area in which the teams differed was in defence; Gosport's defence was solid and well-organised, whereas Eastleigh let themselves be pulled around to create spaces that Gosport were able to exploit. This meant that, when the Gosport forwards had done the hard work of winning the ball, the backs were able to do something with it but Eastleigh either ran into a wall or panicked and kicked away possession. This was demonstrated yet again as Eastleigh kicked away valuable turnover ball, won as a result of a superb forward drive, and squandered another opportunity, if not to score, then at least to build some phases and create momentum. The kick was gathered by Moselely and run in from over half way for his and Gosport's fourth try as, once again, the Eastleigh defence was left standing.
Rhys Morgan took a knee to the temple whilst making a tackle and had to to go off with just a couple of minutes left, Oliver Nichols coming back on in his place. Dan Duncum made some good yards after gathering the restart but was tackled into touch. The rest of the game passed without incident, Gosport finishing as comfortable winners with their 22 metre area relatively untroubled for most of the match.