Brighton II v Portsmouth, Pre-season Friendly, Sat 2nd September 2023
Match Report by Jim Dixon Portsmouth travelled to Brighton for their penultimate pre-season warm up match. This was going to be their toughest fixture to date, especially as it transpired that Brighton had 5 or 6 players who had been hoping to take part in their 1st.XV match against Bracknell which was being played at Brighton. Portsmouth kicked off and were soon putting Brighton under pressure. The forwards got a good drive going towards the Brighton line but the ref deemed the ball to have been held up. Shortly after, a quickly taken tapped penalty by Portsmouth saw the ball spun wide and Connor Charlton crossed for the first try of the match. Tom Sanderson was on target with the conversion and Portsmouth led 0 – 7 with about 20 minutes gone. Portsmouth has a chance to increase the lead with a penalty but the kick drifted wide. Another try…
Portsmouth Squad vs Hampshire Police Squad, Thursday 24th August 2023
Portsmouth 50 – 7 Hampshire Police Match Report by Jim Dixon
Portsmouth Squad v United Services Squad
Match Report – Preseason Friendly Friday 18th August – by Jim Dixon Portsmouth Squad v United Services Squad under floodlights Portsmouth 24 – 7 United services Portsmouth got their first pre-season ‘friendly’ underway at Rugby Camp, under floodlights. U.S opened the scoring with a converted try but Portsmouth soon hit back with a couple of tries, one of which was converted to lead 12 – 7 at the end of the first session. The second session got underway with both teams changing their personnel. Portsmouth were soon back on the scoreboard with an unconverted try to lead 17 – 7. This was followed with a converted try to take the lead to 24 – 7. The game then came to a rather unexpected end when following a U.S attack in which the ball carrier was tackled, the two players were embroiled in a bit of ‘handbags’ and one of the…
Portsmouth vs North Dorset, Papa Johns Community Counties 1 Plate Competition Round 1, Saturday 1st April 2023
Portsmouth 15 – 17 North Dorset Match Report by Jim Dixon With all the recent rain it was only the Vets pitch that was deemed playable, and that was only after a concerted effort by Club Members who forked the puddled areas to get rid of standing water. Despite heavy rain before the warm up began it remained dry and breezy for the remainder of the afternoon.The surface was, however, very muddy and it was obviously going to be a day for the forwards.With both teams making changes to their usual starting XV’s it was Portsmouth that got proceedings underway, playing with a steady breeze behind them.They went straight into attack mode and camped themselves deep in the Dorset half. Connor Charlton made good ground after catching a Dorset clearance kick. His pass to Brad Jewer saw the winger have a good run before passing to the supporting Fooks who…
Portsmouth vs Gosport & Fareham, Saturday 18th March 2023. Counties Hampshire 1
Portsmouth 14- 38 Gosport & Fareham Match report by Jim Dixon This was the final League match for this season, a game that should have been played on Saturday 17th.December but was postponed due to a frozen pitch. And what a contrast it was with a warm sun on a mild and pleasant day. Portsmouth kicked off and went straight onto the attack, keeping Gosport pinned in their 22. Portsmouth set up a good driving maul and eventually Brad Atkins broke away from the maul to score out wide. Gareth Davies was on target with the touch line conversion and they went into a 7-0 lead with only a few minutes on the clock. That score seemed to shake Gosport into action and they gradually worked their way down field. It was only good defensive work that kept them out. Portsmouth managed to work their way towards the half way…
Basingstoke vs Portsmouth, Saturday 11th March 2023, Counties Hampshire 1 League
Basingstoke 41- 43 Portsmouth Match report by Jim Dixon Firstly I must apologise for my error in last weeks’ match report on the Alton fixture. I mistakenly reported that Tim Rollett had been taken to Hospital with a suspected broken ankle where-as it was actually Josh Howell-Williams and it has since been reported that he has sustained ligament damage and not a broken ankle. My apologies to all concerned Today’s game is the penultimate fixture of the season for League matches with the delayed fixture against Gosport & Fareham to be played at Rugby Camp next Saturday with a 3.00.p.m.K.O. This will be followed by the new Cup Competition, start date and fixtures to be announced. This was a rather unusual game with the lead changing 12 times throughout the match, Lots of penalties for both sides made it a rather disjointed match but it was, never the less exciting…
Alton vs Portsmouth, Saturday 4th March 2023, Counties 1 Hampshire
Match report by Jim Dixon Alton 21 – 24 Portsmouth With two last minute late changes to the original selection, Aaron Beesley and Greg Jansen, Portsmouth moved Ollie Simpson from No.6 to No.8 and Lee Chandler came on to the bench in place of Jansen. Max Clarke was moved from the second row to No.6 and Bryn Rainford moved off the bench to No.5. Ben Gordon came onto the bench. Portsmouth were hoping to carry on from last week’s success but the game never really sparked into life. Whether it was the sloping pitch or some other factor was not clear but this proved to be a rather fractious affair throughout the game. Alton got the match underway and a Portsmouth knock-on gave Alton a penalty kick resulting in a 5 metre line-out. A catch and drive by Alton was thwarted by Portsmouth as they defended well. Alton kept the…
Portsmouth vs Eastleigh, Saturday 25th February, Counties 1 Hampshire , rearranged match
Portsmouth 38 – 17 Eastleigh Match report by Jim Dixon On a rather chilly blustery day Portsmouth had to make one or two changes as this was originally a blank weekend and some players had made other arrangements. This re-arranged fixture was caused by the game being postponed in January due to weather conditions. Eastleigh got proceedings underway and Portsmouth showed their intent with a great run by Finn Parry who took the ball into Eastleigh’s half of the pitch involving Max Clark and Ollie Simpson . The move was eventually stopped after Portsmouth were penalised for not releasing after the tackle. All the pressure was coming from Portsmouth and eventually they scored through Anthony Fooks following a good move involving Aaron Beesley and Finn Parry. Morgans conversion was true and the score was 7 – 0. Portsmouth had a chance to increase the lead but the penalty kick…
Portsmouth vs Havant 2nds, Saturday 18th February 2023, Counties Hampshire 1 League
Match Report by Jim Dixon Portsmouth 10-38 Havant 2nds Portsmouth’s day started with a Former Players Lunch where there were just over 100 past players/current members present and a 3 course lunch, provided by the Club’s resident Chef and former player Jimmy Martin, plus copious amounts of ale consumed meant a very enjoyable time was had by all. With quite a strong wind blowing down the pitch, Portsmouth found themselves playing with the wind in the first half having lost the toss. Havant got the match underway and shortly after Gareth Davies put a good touch kick down to the Havant 22. Sam Foster managed to steal the ball but a subsequent knock on gave Havant a scrum. A penalty against Havant for not releasing the tackled player saw Simon Morgan line up a kick at goal from just inside the 10 metre line but the kick went wide. This…
Bournemouth 2 vs Portsmouth, Saturday 11th February 2023, Counties 1 Hampshire League
Match Report by Jim Dixon Bournemouth 2nd Xv 28- 20 Portsmouth Firstly I must apologise for the late publication of last weeks game v Andover , it got lost in transit and has now been published ! Portsmouth travelled to their second fixture out of Hampshire, Jersey being the other one, to take on Bournemouth 2nd’s. Their last game against them at home saw Portsmouth sneak a narrow win so they new it would be a tough match, especially as they are stronger at home. Portsmouth kicked off and managed to re-gather the kick but as the ball as spun wide it got knocked on. A couple of penalties against the home side saw Portsmouth gain ground and with the second penalty Simon Morgan was able to kick a goal giving them a 0 – 3 lead with just a few minutes on the clock. Bournemouth soon hit back with…