Farnborough v
Portsmouth 24th Nov by Simon
Newsham
Crocks in Crocs
25/11/07
John Sneezum Hampshire Veterans Cup semi-final tie
Farnborough 7 Portsmouth 12
Pompey fought their way into their third final in 4 years with a win over
tough opponents Farnbrough. The hosts had got into the semi final courtesy
of a bye but were unbeaten in other matches this season so far and pompey
knew they were in for a hard game, borne out by second row Kevin Wilson who
said after the match "thats 'arder than playing for the seconds".
With a biting wind from left to right the hosts chose to play into the wind
and the kick off penned them deep in their own half, the first line out went
to Pompey and a switch move between Jim Brainwood and Sean Godkin saw the
centre carry the ball into the twenty-two his tackler used hands on the
floor which gave pompey an easy penalty, 3-0 from the boot of Godkin. The
game didnt settle down and the refs constant whistling meant neither side
got into their rythm. the Boro forwards were low in the scrum and the
loosehead prop was causing problems for the Pompey pack and it was wheeled
several times making Caspall and number eight Bungle Bailey work hard at the
back of it to get clean ball away. Farnborough went for the number eight
pick up too often and it was easily snubbed out by Kieran Godkin and Geoff
Bullard on the flanks. The Pompey lineout was working well through hooker
platform for attacking breaks from Brainwood and centres Bruce Collins and
Sean Godkin. Fly half Brainwood was making good distance with his kicking
and the chasing from the wings caused panic in the home defence. The forward
battle was ongoing, Bungle had a momentary lapse of control and charged head
first into the hooker for delaying his throw in and the resulting open play
saw a few handbags being brandished in a free for all, the referee stood and
waited for it all to calm down and then resumed his whistle happy brand of
control. The Pompey scrum had got back on terms with tighthead Gavin Hindle
getting his binding right, this gave Scrum-half Caspall more time to set up
attacks. On 20 minutes Caspall broke blind and his tackler was adjudged to
have handled the ball on the ground, penalty to Pompey wide left, but Godkin
missed.
to gain territory but the backs couldnt get through. Caspall kept using the
blind side to good effect and wings Hodges and Mallinder made plenty of
yards but the home defence held firm. On the half hour a Pompey lineout won
by Bullard and taken on by prop Dave Harris set up stable platform for the
visitors to launch a series of attacks in front of the posts, first Wally
Wilson taking it into contact the second phase saw Jim Brainwood tackled
then Bruce Collins took it on into the twenty-two, he was tackled by two
Boro backs and the ruck gave Caspall the chance to pass to Brainwood who
calmly dropped his second goal in two games to give a slender six point
lead. Pompey flanker Huw White was causing mayhem on the wing, White, a
replacement in this match and not actually on the field played his part to
the full being a constant thorn in the side of the touch judge and also
managed to irk many of the home support and players, including the hooker
whose throwing in suffered at the hands of Chalkys constant barrage, the
first half ended with the visitors six nil up but knowing that it was still
anyones game, and one mistake could win or lose this match.
Half Time Farnborough 0 Portsmouth 6
Pompey made one change at the break, "Highgate The Navigator"
replaced
stalwart John Whitehouse at second row and the half time pep talk from
Caspall to the pack had the required effect and the Portsmouth forwards who
were off the pace in the first half upped their game as they knew they had
to with a vicious wind now in their faces. This half wasn't the time for
fancy moves in the backs but Pompey tried it anyway, the Brainwood/Godkin
switch working several times got Portsmouth into the boro half but either
blatant robbery in the tackle or lack of support meant the home side could
kick right back deep into Pompeys twenty-two, full back Howorth dealt with
most kicks well but put his side under pressure with a dropped catch and a
scrum on twenty metres, once again the number eight pick up but Caspall and
Godkin wrapped up the scrum half and a penalty for holding on to the ball
gave Portsmouth breathing space.
On 55 minutes Jonah "The Janitor" Jones repaced Gavin Hindle at
tighthead
prop. Brainwood was still fooling the opposition and made a break with a
double dummy which carved a hole in the hosts defence, eventually tackled by
the full back, a Farnborough player then fell on the Pompey fly-half, a
cheap shot that warranted ten minutes on the exercise bike but the referee
chose not to yellow card him nor give a penalty but a scrum to the home
side, at least he was being consistently poor in his decisions. Moving into
the last fifteen minutes and a cheeky chip over the top from Caspall forced
the Boro' wing to put the ball into touch, then the Pompey pack drove to the
Farnborough line from the lineout, the roll took them to within a whisker of
the goal-line with Farnborough desperately hanging on in defence, the maul
collapsed and with a try beckoning an unsighted referee gave a scrum to the
home side for an imaginary knock on.
This decision was enough to send the away support and bench into a fit of
laughter and had to be calmed down, replacements Mitch Tett and Simon
Newsham were still laughing at the decision when the referee adjudged Pompey
offside at the scrum and gave the home side a penalty which was cleared up
to halfway, the very relieved hosts jogged up for the lineout. The throw was
cleanly taken and set up the Boro' fly-half to dummy and then ran on into
the Pompey twenty-two eluding a valiant covering tackle from Bruce Collins
to score in the corner, similar to Sean Godkins conversion against Havant in
the first round the ball sailed through the posts and Farnborough were 7-6
ahead. The home support clearly thought that was that and started the
celebrations but Portsmouth dug deep and a another strong run from Collins
carrying two tacklers with him gained the visitors another penalty as one
tackler failed to release the player and the other played the ball on the
floor, Sean Godkin kicked his second goal of the game to put Pompey back in
front at 7-9. Another long kick off and a fumbled catch gave Farnborough a
scrum on the Pompey twenty-two which gave way to a spell of pressure where
charged down, his tackle on the Boro player who didn't quite have the ball
was thankfully ignored by the referee, Brainwood eventually kicked them
clear and a superb steal from Highgate at the lineout saw him go off on the
hoof and drew in three tacklers to bring him down, both Kieran Godkin and
Geoff Bullard flew into the ruck setting up quick ball for Caspall to feed
Brainwood, his sidestep and dummy pass got him to ten metres from the line
but once more the solid Boro' tacklers did their job and the referee did his
by spotting yet another infringement at the breakdown and once Brainwood had
received treatment, the easiest of three points for Sean Godkin who put
Portsmouth 5 points ahead from the kick.
The hosts threw everything at Pompey in the final eight minutes but fierce
tackling kept them out, the visitors knew that only a try would do for the
home side and set about spoiling their open play with all manner of petty
infringements.
Farnborough continued to run the ball at Pompey but shenanigans and
gamesmanship by the Pompey front row saw the clock run down, Wilson took the
ball into touch after stealing it in a maul and that was that, time was up
and a 7-12 victory for the cup holders. This was a real hard fought contest
and Pompey fully deserve to be in the final, their opponents will be
Petersfield at Penns Place on December the 8th where Skippers Mike Bailey
and Mike Caspall would like the support of as many of you as can possibly
make it.