9:20am Tuesday 28th July 2009
Swindon St George went into last weekend’s RLC London and South Division play-off semi-final against Southampton Spitfires as slight favourites but were unable to produce a repeat of their previous league form against the south coast side.
The Spitfires started the scoring with a try but the home side soon equalised with a close range try after Greg O’Brien fed Danny Morgan to score in the corner. Neither side managed to convert and for St George their kicking game was a source of frustration throughout.
After a barren spell of play Southampton managed break the deadlock with a try from hooker Dave Linton before Aaron Nelson converted to give the visitors a six point advantage.
The away side’s ill-discipline soon gave Swindon a chance to bring the score level though, and Morgan again found the try line after a short break by Milo Hartley. Again the home side failed to convert leaving the score at 10-8.
The Spitfires captain Kevin Cant was then sin-binned for a high tackle but Swindon were unable to make the man advantage pay off, conceding two more converted tries before half-time to take the score to 20 - 8.
St George needed to score early after the restart to give themselves a chance of reducing the deificit but the visitors maintained their momentum from the first half and scored another converted try through Cant.
The home side then managed to rally with two quick tries from Morgan and O’Brien inside five minutes to put themselves back in contention in the last 10 minutes.
They could not sustain the pressure though and Southampton were gifted an opportunity as Swindon were penalised for moving off the line, handing the Spitfires possession in St George territory.
Confident of victory the visitors scored twice to take the score to 38-16 before Swindon’s O’Brien crossed the line for a consolation try in the final minute to make the final score 38-20 to the Spitfires.
Frustration then boiled over for the home side, who finished the game a man short following a high shot just before the whistle.
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