Fareham Heathens 12 – 44 Portsmouth 2nd Xv
Match Report by Zac Eyley
Captain Zac Eyley reports:
‘The 2s travelled the short journey to Fareham Heathens this week, marking the halfway point in the league. With no win so far this season a lot of pressure was on to make this a game to remember, and boy was it! An excellent display of physical dominance and set piece execution from the pack set a brilliant platform for the backs to run off of.
It did not take long to get across the whitewash, and it didn’t stop all game with Brad Jewer, Will Dalziel and Scott Weatherhead all getting a try each. But the dream combination of a Tommy Hare cross field kick and Sam Olie’s sexy footwork was the highlight of the day with three cracking tries for Sam. The forwards had their say too with a Matt Hoban special smashing through most of the home team and Ian Skinner fell over the line at the back of a rampaging maul. Two conversions from TH10 were the only points from the boot today, but as always, the magic man at 10 set the pace of attack and used his liquid rugby to unleash his team mates superbly.
Joby Walsh was denied a try from close range as Carl Darnley was penalised for pushing one of the Heathens defenders over off the ball. Portsmouth needs to improve the penalty count as Will Dalziel picked up a yellow for not rolling away at the base of the ruck following a number of team infringements at the breakdown. Matt Hoban also took a 10-minute time out for a high tackle. Man of the Match was awarded to Scott Weatherhead for scoring on his return after a long spell out through injury. DOTD went to Jas Solanki who turned up at the Heathen’s club house for a social after receiving DOTD for his 1st team performance. Fareham also made him DOTD for the same reasons.
Portsmouth 2s travel away to Guernsey next week hoping to keep the gravy train going (calm down Ticker it’s not a real train!)’