Portsmouth travelled to Bournemouth without a few players from their last outing including their captain Aaron Beesley. However, such is the strength of the squad now that there was barely and difference in the performance and indeed the outcome of the match.
Bournemouth kicked off on a dry, sunny day with just a slight breeze blowing across the pitch. Portsmouth were soon on the attack as they worked the ball upfield, having defended well in the opening minutes. Eventually Portsmouth were awarded a lineout about 7 metres from the try line. A good catch and drive saw them shove the opposition pack backwards and suddenly No. 6 Liam Glazebrook broke from the maul with the ball and dived over for the opening try after about 10 minutes. Hywell Gronow obliged with the conversion and they led 0-7.
From the restart Portsmouth were soon on the attack again and with Bournemouth getting pinged a few times by the ref, Portsmouth were soon in the opposition 22. A 5 metre scrum to Portsmouth saw them drive the Bournemouth pack over the try line and Liam Avis dropped on the ball for their second try, again Gronow was on target and the score was now 0-14 after about 23 minutes. With Portsmouth still pressing for a third score but unable to get over the try line the half time whistle went.
The second half saw Portsmouth bring on their bench, Adam Parks-Dare at prop, Simon Pinhorn in the second row and Alex Randall on the wing. They replaced Alex Buck, prop, John Pearson, hooker, and Connor Charlton wing. There were two positional changes with Fooks moving from No.8 to hooker. and Toby Lucas from the second row to No. 8. Portsmouth were soon back in scoring mode with Alex Randall gathering a clearance kick and making ground before passing to Sam Foster who in turn took play forward before passing to George Wright who raced away to score out wide, the conversion missed and the score was now 0-19 after 43 minutes.
It was then the turn of Bournemouth to get their first score after some good pressure by them. However the try was rather controversial as the scorer clearly stepped over the touch line before he scored. Spectators were drawing this the ref’s attention was he was unsighted at the time. He asked where the touch judge was and he was on the half way line talking to fellow members. He had been playing earlier but came off with a very sore knee and didn’t really want to run touch. The ref had no alternative but to let the try stand as there was no Bournemouth spectator close to the incident. The try was converted and the score was now 7-19 with 45 minutes on the clock.
20 minutes later Portsmouth widened the gap when from a scrum Portsmouth heeled good ball and George Wright broke to the open side and finding Hywel Gronow out side him made a bit of ground before giving him the ball. Gronow sidestepped his way through the opposition and raced clear to dive over the try line. This was just like his father when he was playing, even to standing up with his hands on his knees getting his breath back. Matt Gronow was on the touch line watching, the main difference he said in the bar afterwards that he didn’t have to convert his own try, he just gave the ball to Nobby Stiles. That was their 4th bonus point try with the score now 7-26 on 45 minutes.
Bournemouth were now trying to get back into the game and eventually pressure told as the crossed for their second try which was not converted, taking the score to 12-26. Bournemouth did manage to cross the line again shortly after their last score but the Portsmouth defence managed to get under the ball carrier thus preventing the try and giving Portsmouth a goal line drop out. Another good move saw Portsmouth carry the ball from their 22 into the opposition 22 but they just couldn’t get final score. From a Bournemouth line out they managed to steal the ball and a kick into touch saw the ref blow for full time, with the final score 12-26.
Portsmouth won by a similar score when the two met earlier in the season so this was a very satisfactory result. There were 5 yellow cards handed out during the match, 3 to Bournemouth in the first half and 2 to Portsmouth in the second half.
This result sees Portsmouth stay in 6th place on 45 points with next weeks opponents Eastleigh just 1 point ahead of them on 45 points, They lost 28-50 to Ellingham & Ringwood. Bognor are just 1 point behind Portsmouth on 45 points so it is very tight indeed. Portsmouth still have the best points against record of 336, the next best is Havant on 368. The surprise result was Bognor beating Gosport & Fareham 41-18. Portsmouth’s defence was good throughout the game as Bournemouth were a big physical side.
Portsmouth’s back row gave an excellent account for themselves throughout the game , Portsmouth did probably leave a couple of tries out there but the overall performance was pretty good. Stand in captain Sam Foster led the troops well.
TEAM
ALEX BUCK, JOHN PEARSON, LIAM AVIS
SAM FOSTER (C), TOBY WILSON
LIAM GLAZEBROOK, SAM FLOYD, ANT FOOKS.
GEORGE WRIGHT, HYWEL GRONOW
CONNOR CHARLTON, OLI AVIS, SAM OLIE, BRAD JEWER
JAZ SOLANKI
BENCH
ADAM PARKS-DARE, SIMON PINHORN, ALEX RANDALL