Southampton and Portsmouth made the best possible use of a blank league week and played a highly competitive friendly at Test Park in which both clubs took the opportunity to experiment prior to important league fixtures next Saturday.

Portsmouth triumphed 36-26 but threatened to run away with the game in the opening quarter by building a 12-0 lead with a brace of tries. However, Southampton eventually got going and responded to such an extent that they had gained a 19-12 advantage by half-time after scoring three tries.

Portsmouth also began the second period forcefully and soon narrowed the arrears to a couple of points with their third try. A couple of further scores by midway through the half looked to have taken Portsmouth clear, but Southampton again responded well and were only three points adrift as the match entered injury-time.

That margin was a fair reflection of an open, enjoyable game, but Portsmouth had the last laugh when Neil Styles converted a try from Greg Hodgkiss with the last kick of the game to give his side a 36-26 victory. Earlier, Styles had completed a hat-trick of tries and Jamie McLaughlin and Paul Guyver had also touched down, while James Drew completed the Portsmouth scorers with a couple of conversions.

Matt Southey scored a brace of tries for Southampton - their other scorers were Andy Shaw and Alex Scott with tries, plus Dave Griffiths with three conversions.

Several catch-up league fixtures were played on Saturday and one of those affected both Portsmouth and Southampton in London 3 South West. Jersey defeated Barnes 26-10 to move ahead of Portsmouth into second place and put pressure on the leaders Gosport & Fareham. But the defeat for Barnes did Southampton a favour since it kept Barnes three points behind them.

Other league games saw Salisbury's plight worsen in South West 2 East with a 16-5 defeat away to fellow-strugglers Slough, while Swanage & Wareham strengthened their hold on first place with a 41-15 verdict over Chinnor. Bournemouth's dismal campaign also continued with a 25-15 defeat at Sherborne in their re-arranged Southern Counties South game.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.