With only 14 players, AEI put up an excellent performance in damp conditions. The AEI pack were dominant in the scrums, despite loosing a few balls against the head, and Southam’s constant refusal to use their overlap in the backs was to AEI’s advantage. The first half was particularly tight and was scoreless until the half hour when a more alert Southam were first to a ball dropped over AEI’s line.
Turning round 7-0 down at halftime and then conceding an early second half penalty, AEI soon found themselves back in the game after a try by Stevie Neal following a typically bullish run. Southam scored again but, straight from the kick off, Southam failed to clear their own lines as Paul Eaton charged down a kick and pounced, cat-like, on the ball to score. The decisive Southam try came 10 minutes from the end, and in the gathering gloom, the play switched from end to end as AEI pushed for victory.