Portsmouth travelled to Bognor for this penultimate fixture for this League. Their problems started during the warm up when influential scrum half George Wright had to drop out of the fixture due to a nasty injury to his knee. His place was taken by Lee Chandler, who was on the bench, expecting only to be on the pitch for about 20 minutes. As it was he stayed on for 75 minutes until a back problem forced him off. Up until then he had filled in very capably.
Bognor kicked off and Portsmouth took play back into the Bognor half and unfortunately lost control of the ball but Bognor were then penalised for lying on the ball. Portsmouth had a scoring chance with a drive for the line but they were unable to cross. Then from a kick by Bognor Portsmouth managed to charge the ball down and quick thinking by Brad Jewer saw him race to the in goal area where the ball was rolling tantalisingly close to the dead ball line. Before it crossed the line he was able to beat the defending player to score the first points of the match. Gareth Davies was on target with the conversion and they took a 0-7 lead on 22 minutes.
Bognor were soon back on the attack and only good defending by the visitors kept them at bay. Bognor then got penalised for holding on to the ball after the tackle, giving Portsmouth a chance to clear their lines. With the ball bouncing around wing forward Sam Floyd kicked up field and followed in hot pursuit. He was unable to gather but they were now camped in the Bognor 22. From a maul Portsmouth were able to drive to the line and Fooks controlled the ball to score their second try which Gareth Davies again converted taking the score to 0-14 with 32 minutes gone. With both sides pressing for the advantage and the Bognor centres and No. 8 causing Portsmouth some problems eventually the half time whistle went.
Portsmouth got the second half underway and Bognor soon went onto the attack and after about 5 minutes their outside centre showed his speed as he outpaced the Portsmouth defence to score a converted try taking the score to 7-14 on 45 minutes. Bognor then closed the gap further when again their outside centre broke through the Portsmouth defence with a quick burst of speed to score out wide. The conversion missed and the score was now 12-14 on 50 minutes. Shortly after, when Portsmouth had been defending their line, a penalty against them saw Bognor take a kick at goal taking the score to 15-14. This was followed shortly after with a penalty to Portsmouth which Gareth Davies duly converted, giving Portsmouth back the lead 15-17 on 70 minutes.
Portsmouth then had to make changes with Chandler having to leave the field with back spasms. Sam Olie went to No. 9 with Aaron Beesley going to the centre and Eben Skinner going to No. 8. Bognor, taking advantage of the Portsmouth changes, took play into the visitors half and good 3’s play saw them score their 3rd try taking the score to 20-17 in the closing stages of the game. From a lineout which saw the ball bouncing around it was eventually Bognor that managed to hold on to it and a kick into touch saw the final whistle go ending the game.
This was a very disappointing game for Portsmouth who didn’t really perform as they have in recent matches, they just couldn’t get their game flowing. The Bognor No. 13 was causing problems along with their No. 8 who proved a handful throughout the game. This loss sees then slip down to 9th in the league, in part due to the conceding of the Guernsey away game due to player shortage. There is no game next week, yes another rest week!, and then the final game is Gosport & Fareham at home. Gosport also lost to Ellingham & Ringwood 15-28. They lie in 4th place.
Special mention must be made of George Wright, as already mentioned he had to drop out of today’s game and will probably miss the Gosport game also. He was at Portsmouth Uni for this year only as he is going back to Sheffield Uni. He has played consistently well and has been a valuable player throughout his short stay. We wish him well when he returns to Sheffield.
TEAM
ALEX BUCK, ANT FOOKS, ADAM PARKS-DARE
SAM FOSTER, TOBY WILSON
EBEN SKINNER, SAM FLOYD, AARON BEESLEY(C)
LEE CHANDLER, GARETH DAVIES
CONNOR CHARLTON, SAM OLIE, BRAD JEWER, HARVEY FIELD
ALEX RANDALL
BENCH
PHILL GILLILAND, JOHN PEARSON