Portsmouth heartbreak as Honiton beat them to Twickenham final in RFU Senior Vase

In a thrilling encounter on the hottest day of the year so far, the Devon side snatched the win in the final 10 minutes.

Portsmouth forwards coach Peter Knott was immensely proud of the performance put in by the home side.

‘It was an heroic effort on our part against very good opponents,’ he said.

‘The players gave everything they had from start to finish and played their hearts out. In the end it was small margins that made the difference.

‘It was one heck of a game played out in front of a large noisy crowd. With less than 10 minutes to go, both teams were locked together at 20-20.

‘Honiton just managed to capitalise on a couple of mistakes to take the verdict. It was no disgrace going out to a team as good as them.’

Portsmouth made a great start – taking the lead through a Cam Duffus penalty soon after the kick-off. Shortly afterwards the home side suffered a blow when they lost centre Dan Gates to injury.

Honiton opened their account with a good converted try following an excellent three-quarter move. In an end-to-end encounter both teams put in some big tackles.

Before half-time both teams knocked over penalties – with the visitors leading 10-6 at the break. Another penalty at the start of the second period enabled Honiton to extend their lead.

Portsmouth, however, hit back to level the scores when a quick tapped penalty ended with Dan Sargent getting the touchdown and Duffus adding the conversion.

It continued to be a ding-dong affair and a missed tackle led to Honiton restoring their lead. Still the home side refused to give in and winger Noah Cannon scored wide out with Duffus landing the difficult conversion. The final 10 minutes saw the visitors add a converted try and a penalty to earn their trip to Twickenham.

Knott added: ‘Obviously all the players are disappointed. But they can all hold their heads high in what they have achieved in the national competition. Honiton admitted we gave them their toughest game in reaching the final.

‘Our cause wasn’t helped by having to replace a number of key players during the game because of injury. Apart from the result it was a great day all round for the club. There was a fantastic atmosphere and a lot of people worked hard to make it happen.’