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 players got hit on the head. That started a reaction from both teams and also some of the U.S. players who were on the touch line watching the game. The referee managed to get things under control but not before the U.S. coach had taken his players off the field. No one was really sure if the game was over or not as the opposition then came back onto the pitch and it appeared as if the game would re-start. However after a talk between the Ref. and a player from each team he blew his whistle and got the 2 squads to shake hands, with the match ending with a 24 – 7 win to the home side. There were several new players on view for Portsmouth and the whole squad acquitted themselves well with the new players showing good touches
Portsmouth finished the session with a game between their own players for the remaining 20 minutes or so.
Next week sees Portsmouth take on Hampshire Police on Thursday evening, again under floodlights, at Rugby Camp KO 1930
