Portsmouth 58 Eastleigh 38
by Simon Newsham
A glorious spring afternoon for the visit of Eastleigh to Rugby Camp and the one hundreth first xv cap for front row forward Adam Parks-Dare. The visitors were first on the scoreboard when Portsmouth knocked on in front of their own posts. From the resulting scrum Eastleighs fly-half dummied and cruised over the try line for a 0-7 lead. Portsmouth hit back five minutes later with a tap penalty that Aaron Beesley scored with a trademark crash to the line, converted by Gareth Davies the scores were levelled.
Eastleigh went back in front after Portsmouth were penalised for holding on in the tackle, a quick tap and dummy saw them retake the lead 7-14 with fifteen minutes gone. The pace was frantic but nice passing move by Portsmouth in the backs saw full-back Alex Randall speed down the left wing to touchdown just left of the uprights, Davies added the extras plus a penalty a few minutes later to edge into a three point lead.
The pace of the game was fast and furious, on the half hour Portsmouth again irked the referee who awarded another simple penalty that the visitors slotted. The hosts really took hold of the game in the ten minutes leading up to half time. A superb 50/22 kick from Davies gave Portsmouth a line out deep in the Eastleigh twenty-two, the catch and drive was collapsed by the visitors and Sam Foster was on the end of a quick tap penalty to score, once again converted by Davies for a 24-17 lead.
Rounding off the first half another huge 50/22 by Davies was turned into another try for Beesley from the line out catch and drive, Davies again on the money with the extras for a half time lead of 31-17.
Portsmouth were quickly back into their stride in the second half, Hooker Anthony Fooks was impressive once again with the ball in hand, making plenty of ground and sucking in the tacklers to create the space. A sweeping move by the hosts put Connor Chalton clear to run in a try down the right. Five minutes later Foster stole an Eastleigh line out, scrum-half George Wright broke through the middle of the pitch, popped a pass to Beesley on his left who drew the last defender before passing to winger Brad Jewer to score on the left. With thirty minutes left the hosts were looking like running up another cricket score, Chalton added another try when Beesley collected the kick off and passed to Fooks whose series of sidesteps took him clear of the advancing defence, his pass to Chalton put him in for his second try and a 48-17 lead.
However, Portsmouth were being penalised regularly and it was second row Sam Foster who was shown the yellow card. His presence was missed as Eastleigh ran in a try almost immediately as the hosts collapsed the catch and drive. The mayhem continued with end to end action and a brief respite came with a Portsmouth penalty that Davies kicked through the uprights for the three points. At 51-24 from a Portsmouth scrum deep in their own half, scrum-half Wright ran in a lovely long range try and once more Gareth Davies converted for a 58-24 lead. Much to the enjoyment of a group of stranded Frenchmen.
Their journey from Nantes to Dublin had somehow ended in Portsmouth where they sought out the nearest club. Having been wined and dined by the Portsmouth members and watched their team win on the TV they found their voice and gave a fantastic rendition of La Marseillaise from the spectators balcony.
Sam Foster wasn`t back on long after his yellow card when he limped off with injury, Portsmouth ran out of steam and the game ended 58-38 with the visitors scoring two late tries.