Before the match all players, staff and parents from all of the teams present on the day lined up in front of the Gosport & Fareham clubhouse at 11 o’clock to observe a two minutes silence. Lead by club co-chairman Steve Bennett, all the players ranging from the Minis through to the Under 16’s honoured the occasion with perfect respect.

Gosport & Fareham, with their next Division 1 league match against Petersfield looming, selected a stronger side than they would normally have for such a friendly. However, having scored three tries within the first quarter Gos resumed their squad rotation policy.

It only took 5 minutes for Tom Rimmer to open the scoring. A very intelligent and class act rugby player - Tom impressed with his running and speed. Weaving inside and out he tormented the opposition all game and rightly deserved his man of the match award.

Craig Taylor and Reegan Hamilton followed up with quick tries using their superior strength. It was all territory and possession for Gos – Heathens struggled to get out of their own half. And it did not get any better when shortly before the end of the first period Heathens went down to 14 players as a yellow card was shown for a high tackle on full-back Dom Philo.

The first half ended with another try from Craig Taylor (converted by Lewis Evans) and Tom Winter just missed out on a score having dropped the ball on the try line.

With a number of replacements – all players in the Gos squad got game-time - Gos continued in the second half where they left the first. Billy Strachan looked promising on the wing and Jack Gander made some crunching tackles. Tom Batley who gave another superb performance scored twice and Reegan Hamilton showed his dominance by scoring his second try of the match. Charlie Smith struck two conversions leaving the score 41-0 going into the last moments of the match. But there was still time for Heathens to sneak in a consolation try at the death to make the final score 41-5.

Team: Craig Taylor, Tom Winter, Tyrel Morris-Wilson, Max Burditt, Michael Cathcart, Jordan Wright, Dale Thompson, Sean Pitt, George Firth, Tom Rimmer, Tom Batley, Dan Sparshott, Lewis Evans, Jack Gander, Dom Philo.
Replacements: Owen Brown, Kieran Corless, Sam Goodsell, Reegan Hamilton, James Holstead, Callum McCall, Louis Oldfield, Albie Pannell, Scott Plows, Harry Pye, Charlie Smith.

Tries: Tom Rimmer, Craig Taylor (2), Reegan Hamilton (2), Tom Batley (2)
Cons: Lewis Evans, Charlie Smith (2)

Man of the Match: Tom Rimmer
Parents Man of the Match: Tom Batley (mention in despatches to Reegan Hamilton)
Prat in the Hat: Dom Philo and Max Burditt (Insomnia)

Gosport & Fareham RFC

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