| Under 20s in good form for Championship opener |
| Thursday, 04 February 2010 | |
 Hampshire Under 20s kick off their County Championship campaign on Sunday at Havant RFC against Surrey full of hope that they can go all the way to Twickenham with a virtually new set of players and a new management to boot.
With a couple of superb pre-season victories under their belt, Mike Sullivan's side, which contains just seven of the players from last year's squad that reached the London Play-offs before losing to Middlesex, are feeling in good touch and are looking forward to their opening fixture. That good touch came courtesy of two thumping victories in warm-up games against Dorset and Wilts and Sussex over the last couple of weekends. Hampshire ran out 37-21 to the good against the twin counties and then went cross the eastern border and returned with a crushing 48-8 success. Several players have stepped up from the Under 18s, so this squad could make up the crux of the Under 20s outfit for a couple of years but if the results in warm-up are anything to go by, then this set of players are very much ready for the step up. Team manager Sullivan was looking forward to the game. "After the warm-up games against Dorset and Sussex, we are looking forward to renewing our old rivalry with Surrey on Sunday. Those good wins have filled the lads with some confidence but this is the real test and we want to get our Championship season off to the perfect start." Hampshire team for game with Surrey on Sunday at Havant RFC .... Andy Gale (Winchester), Tom Brookes (UWIC), Dan McAviney (Jersey), Andy Gough (Sandown & Shanklin), Dom Porter (Havant), Will Williams (Portsmouth), Joe Atkinson (Petersfield - capt); Todd Eldridge (Sandown & Shanklin), Matt Flower (Gosport & Fareham), Joe Tarrant (Tottonians), Steve St Croix (Jersey), Ben Allmam (Hartpury College), Jack Taggart (Winchester), Alex Howard (Sandown & Shanklin), Andy Lloyd (Farnham). Replacements: Richard Booth (Sandown & Shanklin), Chris Lewis (Bath), James Keyworth (Hartpury College), Jaryd Robinson (Havant), Greg Sullivan (Worthing), Chris Ealey (Portsmouth), Nick Jones (Tottonians), Henry Garnett (Petersfield), James Sutton (Havant) |