Results

Counties 1 Hampshire Results

Sat 28 Feb 2026

Eastleigh RFC

12 – 48

(HT 0-0)

Portsmouth RFC

Eastleigh RFC

  • 15
    English
  • 14
    Devereux
  • 13
    Bridges
  • 12
    Irving
  • 11
    Amiss
  • 10
    Barnes
  • 9
    Gaudion
  • 1
    Whitlock
  • 2
    Rosenburg
  • 3
    Payne
  • 4
    Godfrey
  • 5
    Stone
  • 6
    Silcox
  • 7
    Johnson
  • 8
    Devereux

Substitutes

  • 16
    Chandler
  • 17
    smith

Portsmouth RFC

Substitutes

Match Report

This was a contest between 2 teams that are at the opposite ends of the table. And that was exactly how it played out. Gareth Davies was first on the score board with a penalty 5 minutes into the match. Eastleigh then took the lead with a converted try 10 minutes later. From a quickly taken tap penalty by Gareth Davies he spun the ball to Ant Fooks who crossed for their first try, taking the score to 7-8. Shortly after that full back Matt Higgins caught an Eastleigh kick and moving forward, passed to Jay Chatham who had a leisurely stroll around the opposition to score Portsmouth’s second try converted by Davies, taking the score to 7 -15.

About 5 minutes before half time and with the 3’s in a fine handling move, centre Leo Wall cut a lovely angle which completely took the opposition by surprise as he raced through to score their third try converted by Davies, taking the score to 7-22 and that was the score at the end of the first half.

The second half got underway with Portsmouth in fine attacking mood and Henry Brown, who had come on in place of Brad Jewer who had a hamstring niggle, from a penalty against Eastleigh Portsmouth worked the ball to Henry Brown who stepped his way to the try line taking the score to 7-27 on 44 minutes. This was Portsmouth’s 4th try giving them yet another bonus point. Eastleigh then hit back with a try of their own taking the score to 12-27 on 57 minutes.

Portsmouth then lost Sam Floyd for 10 minutes for a high tackle. This was followed by a yellow card for Sam Foster so Portsmouth were now down to 13 players. Undeterred by this it was then the turn of Sam Olie to get on the score board as he finished off a good move by ghosting his way through the opposition when it didn’t look as though there was anything on. Again Davies was on target with the conversion. This took the score to 12-34. This was followed by another typical barnstorming run by Leo Wall, breaking several tackles in the process, to score his second try. Again Davies obliged with the conversion and the score was now 12- 41.

With the pack in a dominant mood they then drove Eastleigh back at a rate of knots and giving away a penalty in the process plus another 10 metres for back chatting the Referee. Portsmouth were in no mood to hang around and spinning the ball through the backs it was down to Jay Chatham to score the final try, again converted by Davies, taking the final score to 12-48. Despite the score line, Portsmouth probably left a couple of tries out there, but generally this was a very good performance, with again the bench playing their full part in the victory. Sam Floyd deserves a mention for securing at least 5 turn overs in the match.

There were a couple of late changes to the original selected team with prop Liam Avis suffering a fractured eye socket at training on Thursday and backrower Henri Davies turning his ankle at training on Tuesday.

This win sees Portsmouth still top with 66 points, Bognor are second after beating Winchester 2’s 29-23.They are on 58 points and Basingstoke are 3rd on 56 points after losing to Millbrook, 31-34. Next week’s opponents, Andover, are in 4th after beating Guernsey 2nds 32-15. They are on 53 points.

TEAM
WILL ROLFE(C) JOHN PEARSON, JOE BENNITTS
SAM FOSTER, ELLIOTT WORRALL
TOBY WILSON, SAM FLOYD, ANT FOOKS
DOMVUGLER,GARETH DAVIES
NBRAD JEWER, SAM OLIE, LEO WALL, JAY CHATHAM
MATT HIGGINS

BENCH
ALEX BUCK, BRYN RAINFORD, HENRY BROWN