Romsey WASPS Under 16s took part last weekend in the Southampton Festival and were delighted to find that both Ellingham & Ringwood and Trojans had also been invited to the start of season warm-up games.

Following the agreement of a timetable, Romsey started with Ringwood & Ellingham.

In previous encounters, this would have been a difficult fixture for Romsey, but due to hard work in pre-season training the game became an evenly balanced affair.

Both packs carried and rucked with intensity, the set piece scrummage and lineout were central by Ellingham and Romsey respectively. Both back divisions moved the ball well to create space and overlaps with the sides were closely matched.

From an Ellingham dominated scrummage, their first try emerged. Romsey's back row were bound to the scrummage and away from Ellingham's stand off. A pass and hoop fixed the Romsey back line and with quality handling produced the space on the outside for the score in the corner.

From the restart, Romsey controlled more territory and possession, shutting out their opponents. Heavy carries created space which finished with Ellingham's defensive line stretched, but keeping Romsey out with finger-tip tackling.

Romsey, increasing pressure all the time, neglected their defensive discipline and from a spilt carry, Ellingham grabbed an opportunity which started a foot race between all the speedsters on the pitch and finished with a try between the posts.

Disregarding the 10-nil score, a strong Romsey side were emerging. Following a rest, they played Southampton. This was a slightly one-sided affair, with Southampton improving since last season but struggling for numbers. Ellingham kindly provided players to make up the shortfall.

Romsey were now moving into their stride, with backs and forwards functioning correctly; soon a flurry of tries from Matt Sayburn, Tom Whelan (2), Nathan White and Callum Macfadon made the score 31-nil.

The final game between Trojans and Romsey was cancelled. Trojans, having won a pyrrhic victory against Ellingham, felt that the better part of valour was to withdraw. Romsey's man of the tournament was Callum Macfadon, with special mentions going to Justin Ross-Bain and Tom Whelan.

The squad was: Matt Sayburn, Johnny Richardson, Clive Lusmore, Ben Clark, Sam Fielder, Tim Sweed, Luke Campbell, Richard Jennings, Dave Gibbs, Tom Whelan, Tim Lindsay, Justin Ross-Bain, Nathan White, Tom Hawkswood, Tom Smyth, Tom Brunner, Simon Hogbin and Callum Macfadon.