Fordingbridge kept their place at the head of Snows Group Hampshire 1 but were made to work every inch of the way by opponents Romsey.

Bridge made a bad start when poor discipline allowed Romsey to open up a six point lead with two well taken penalties.

Mark Hammond opened the Fordingbridge account with a penalty but at this point the game was even and it was only when the Bridge pack started to dominate at the set piece that the pattern changed.

Bridge’s forwards began to make life difficult for Romsey in the scrum and after several collapses in the 22 the referee awarded a penalty try which Hammond converted. A further penalty pushed the visitors’ lead out to 13-6.

Romsey’s efforts were rewarded with an unconverted try as they got back to within two points but the half closed out at 20-11 to Bridge after Tim Brittan scored under the posts and Hammond carried on his fine afternoon by converting the try and kicking a penalty.

Fordingbridge were caught napping at the beginning of the second half when Romsey scored from the kick-off. However, with the Bridge pack dominating the scrums and Tim Donell and Rob Hay winning most of the lineout ball, it was not long before their dominance resulted in a try for Dan Brown.

Two further tries, one from Harry Hitchings and one from Rob Hay saw Fordingbridge home.

“This was a good result away from home for Fordingbridge against a committed Romsey side,” said Bridge’s Martin Norton.