Gosport & Fareham had two players red carded after a brawl during a niggly match with Hampshire rivals Tottonians.

High-flying Totts claimed the fiery London 1 South clash 38-29, giving them a league double win over their relegation-threatened rivals.

And there was plenty of drama throughout the 80 minutes at Gosport.

Brothers Wayne and Wes Dugan were red carded after a brawl which came following a late tackle on a Totts’ try scorer and two other home team players also saw two yellow cards.

There were three yellow cards for Tottonians – two of them to Nick Wood who was also given his marching orders by referee Dewald Swart for a double infringement – meaning play was down to 13-a-side for a period in the second half.

Teammate Pete Belasco was admitted to hospital suffering a neck and shoulder injury sustained in open play.

Tottonians head coach Gavin Williams said: “Any match between ourselves and Gosport is fairly tense anyway; it’s always a battle when you go down there.”

He added: “We knew we were going to get the kitchen sink thrown at us physically which they did and they did it very well.

“We dominated the set piece very much and in open play we were always more of a threat than they were.

“But they kept us on the back foot through some fairly hard and aggressive play.

“We were disappointed we allowed so many tries but at the end of the day we got a bonus point win.”

Tension was in the air between the sides before the game after the original fixture was called off at the last minute several weeks ago when Totts decided the rain-soaked pitch was not safe enough to play on.

They claim they then asked Gos if last weekend’s match could kick off early so players and spectators could enjoy the televised England versus Wales game, but were turned down.

However the host club deny receiving a formal request.

The lead changed hands several times during the first 40 minutes but tries from Tottonians’ Sam Cranton, Mike Searle and Ollie Northover, all converted by captain Robbie Searle, gave them a 21-17 half-time lead.

Gosport’s points came from Kieran McRoberts and skipper Tim Snowden tries along with seven points from Wayne Dugan’s kicking.

Snowden received a yellow card ten minutes into the second half after a scuffle but Gosport got back to within two points of their opponents when Number 8 Chris Thompson went over.

Ten minutes later Totts opened up the gap again when Pierre Clark used his pace to place down under the posts.

Robbie Searle eventually converted after the referee had dealt with the prolonged brawl and red carded the two Gosport players who were soon joined by Wood after his second yellow.

Gosport got to 31-29 down after Thompson got his second and Sam Foster drop-goaled the conversion.

Totts pulled away again when Ollie Northover charged down a clearance kick and Mike Searle raced under the posts for cousin Robbie to convert.

Of the late tackle Williams added: “We should be remembering the try for Pierre’s skill. It was a great break and great pace and it was disappointing that there was a late shot by the tackler who decided, for whatever reason, he would drop on Pierre after Pierre had scored the try.

“Our nearest player didn’t do anything physically but remonstrated with the player who did it and it led to two of their lads getting a red card.

“It was completely unprovoked, he did nothing to deserve that and it was a pretty unsavoury incident.”

The result puts Tottonians back up to sixth in the table in their first London 1 season and leaves Gosport locked in a relegation fight with two of their top first team players facing match bans.

Gosport head coach Neil McRoberts said: “I said before the game there are (to be) no ifs, no buts, no whining about the pitch and who isn’t here, no moaning about the ref - all those things are ancillary issues that we can’t control.

“All we can do is put performances in week in week out like they’ve done today.

“I have every faith we will end up where we deserve which is staying in this league and out of the bottom three.”