Smith stars to make it memorable birthday

Ben Smith's birthday was made even more special as he ran in two tries to help fire Gosport & Fareham to a thumping 42-0 Hampshire Premier victory over Eastleigh 2nds.

The promising full-back, below, who turned 20 on Saturday, grabbed his side's second and final scores as Mark Pollard's men ran in six converted tries to wrap up a comprehensive win.

But it's at the back where Gosport have really excelled this season, with the latest shut-out the seventh time in 13 matches this season in which they've failed to concede a single point in a match.

Head coach Pollard beamed: ‘There were some amazing plays and some amazing tries. Ben Smith scored two tries on his birthday as well - he scored an absolute wonder of an individual try so that was absolutely brilliant.

‘He’s been brilliant all season at 15 (number) and it was brilliant to top off a birthday win with two tries. The joy on his face when

he scored on Saturday was absolutely brilliant.

‘It’s what we want, it’s that sort of thing which is spreading through the club, which is key to how we can move on and how rugby clubs can get back to where they need to be.

‘We’ll take another clean sheet, that’s the one key thing to take away from Saturday, the lads stuck to the game plan, they managed to execute most of the time, they ran hard, tackled hard and really put on a dogged defensive display at home against a good Eastleigh side.’

Samuel Gee got the first of second-placed Gosport's tries as they kept the pressure on leaders Havant 2nds with a 12th victory in 13 matches.

Birthday boy Smith got in on the act soon after while Dom Holling and Alex Jones both went over to ensure the hosts opened up a 28-0 halftime advantage.

Simon Trivett and Smith, again, added tries number five and six to round off the emphatic 42-0 triumph.

And Gosport managed to avoid conceding a single point despite both Alex Duncombe and player-coach Tim Snowden being sent to the sin-bin in the final 20 minutes.