Portsmouth 2 vs Andover 2, Saturday 21st January, Counties 3 Hampshire
Portsmouth II 5 – 5 Andover II Match Report by Jim Dixon In the event of the cancellation of the 1st XV fixture away to Andover due to a frozen pitch it as left to the 2nd and 3rd.Portsmouth XV’s to fly the Portsmouth flag. On a bright, sunny but cold day Portsmouth 2’s took to the field which was in reasonably good nick as it had been pretty frozen most of the day on Friday. Andover were the usual team we are used to seeing with big tall forwards. From the start they were soon on the attack and from a kick ahead they chased the ball and a rather kindly bounce saw them cross for the opening score. With the conversion missing they led 0 – 5 with only a couple of minutes on the clock It looked as though it as going to be a long hard…
Dr John Owen – RIP
Dr John Owen – RIP It is with sadness that Portsmouth Rugby Club announce the death of Dr John Owen in the early hours of Saturday 14th January 2023 John joined the Club in the 1950’s, after moving down from the Midlands, and worked as a General practitioner in Southsea until his retirement. He captained the club and the County in the 1958-59 season Here is an article John wrote in the Centenary Year Book in 1986 Our thoughts are with Mary his wife, and his children Michael, David, Nick and Mandy and all the family
Portsmouth vs Gosport & Fareham, Counties, Hampshire 1, Saturday 17th December 2022,
Jim Dixon Game Postponed due to pitch conditions On a sunny but bitterly cold day Portmouth were due to play Gosport & Fareham today but with last weeks controversial ending to the match against Petersfield, together with the fact that when a pitch inspection took place around midday it was almost impossible to get a fork into the ground it was decided, following a conversation with Gosport’s head coach, regretably to call off the fixture. The 2nds game at Gosport was also called off. Fortunately the Club had arranged a Christmas lunch with around 50 guests and that still took place. Unfortunately 1 table of 10 that had booked, failed to turn up, but a very convivial afternoon was had by all who did attend. Today’s game will probably be played in March. We now have a bit of a Christmas shutdown apart from a interclub game to be held…
Petersfield vs Portsmouth
Counties Hampshire 1, Saturday 10th December 2020 Match report by Jim Dixon Petersfield 22 – 19 Portsmouth There were some who were questioning the decision to play this match under floodlights with a 3.00p.m. start bearing in mind the very cold weather conditions.It was generally thought that a 2.00 p.m. start would have been better. And so it was proved although not in the way we expected. The game started, on a very cold,sunny but almost windless day. Portsmouth were soon on the attack and kept Petersfield in their half for a period. Taking a ball against the head at scrum time Portsmouth set up another attack and a series of penalties against the home side saw Portsmouth with a lineout 5 metres from the try line. However they managed to loose the ball, enabling Petersfield to kick their way out of trouble. From a lineout they won the ball and as it…
Roy Harris
Article from the News 06/12/2022 Link to Article
Portsmouth vs Trojans, Counties Hampshire 1, Saturday 3rd December 2022
Match Report by Jim Dixon Portsmouth 13 – 12 Trojans Portsmouth’s day started with a Celebration Lunch with 100 guests in honour of former player and Head Coach Roy Harris on the occasion of his 90th birthday. The guests were made up of Club Members and Roy’s family. Roy came from Cornwall in the 60’s to take up a temporary job with Radio Rentals for 3 weeks and he has been here ever since! There was a more sombre moment when President Nigel Morgan spoke of Vets player and Junior Coach, John Warbrick who after coaching his age group on Sunday morning, went home and tragically collapsed and passed away. He was only 42 years old. Before today’s game started Portsmouth Vets and their opponents Portsmouth University, together with members of the Junior Club and Portsmouth and Trojans 1st XV’s lined up to give a minutes applause in John’s memory.…
Portsmouth vs Trojans, Counties Hampshire 1, Saturday 3rd December 2022
Match Report by Jim Dixon Portsmouth 13 – 12 Trojans Portsmouth’s day started with a Celebration Lunch with 100 guests in honour of former player and Head Coach Roy Harris on the occasion of his 90th birthday. The guests were made up of Club Members and Roy’s family. Roy came from Cornwall in the 60’s to take up a temporary job with Radio Rentals for 3 weeks and he has been here ever since! There was a more sombre moment when President Nigel Morgan spoke of Vets player and Junior Coach, John Warbrick who after coaching his age group on Sunday morning, went home and tragically collapsed and passed away. He was only 42 years old. Before today’s game started Portsmouth Vets and their opponents Portsmouth University, together with members of the Junior Club and Portsmouth and Trojans 1st XV’s lined up to give a minutes applause in John’s memory.…
Jon Warbrick – RIP
Portsmouth Rugby Club is sad to announce the death of Jon Warbrick on Sunday 27th November. Apart from being the smiliest man in the club on a Sunday morning he also coached the Juniors and played for the Vets The Junior section are going to provide a guard of honour in his memory before the Senior games on Saturday 3rd December and instead of a minutes silence there will be a minutes clapping before the 2 pm KO Our thoughts are with his family Amy, Finlay and Amelia and friends at this time
Portsmouth vs Alton, Counties Hampshire 1, Sat 26th Nov 2023
PRFC 15 – 19 Alton Match Report by Jim Dixon Portsmouth welcomed Alton 1st XV to Camp for the first time for a few years. With a rather cold stiff breeze blowing the day started with prop Rhys Bowen attaining his 100th.game for Portsmouth 1st.XV. His original position was No.8 but he decided a couple of seasons ago to have a go at loose head prop in an effort to prolong his rugby life! A presentation was made to him by Club President Nigel Morgan in the Clubhouse following the game. Current No.8 Ollie Simpson has reached 20 1st XV games and was also included in the presentation. Portsmouth playing into the stiff breeze, started the match and the game see-sawed between the 22’s for a while. Alton were beginning to put some good moves together and eventually they managed to score out wide with the conversion missing. The score…
Havant 2nds vs Portsmouth, County League Hampshire 1, Friday 11th November 2022
Match Report by Jim Dixon Portsmouth had a request from Havant 2’s to play their scheduled match for Saturday, on Friday evening under floodlights. The coaches put the question to the players and they readily agreed. The last time we played under floodlights was a few seasons ago at Burnaby Road against U.S Portsmouth in a Cup match which we won. The atmosphere that night was really good with a decent crowd present. There was hope for a similar occasion. There was just 1 change from the original selection with loose head prop Khatib, crying off having been knocked off his bike. Shaken up but not hurt. His place as taken by Rhys Bowen who as originally on the bench. He in turn was replaced by Greg Hoolihan. Portsmouth got the game underway and Havant kicked back which saw Portsmouth run the ball back. Eventually the ball went into touch…