Super substitute Tom Hopkins bags a hat-trick of tries in crushing Portsmouth victory

Portsmouth maintained their perfect start to the year with a 36-8 London Three South West win at bottom side Effingham & Leatherhead.
Substitute Tom Hopkins scored a hat-trick of tries for Portsmouth. Picture: Vernon Nash (310819-005)Substitute Tom Hopkins scored a hat-trick of tries for Portsmouth. Picture: Vernon Nash (310819-005)
Substitute Tom Hopkins scored a hat-trick of tries for Portsmouth. Picture: Vernon Nash (310819-005)

Senior coach Neil McRoberts felt his team gained their bonus-point win in some style.

‘I was delighted with our performance and really pleased for the players,’ beamed McRoberts.

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‘It has been some time since they have enjoyed a bonus-point win.

‘This came as a result of their terrific work ethic, which they needed against a vastly improved opposition.

‘We applied ourselves from first to last and our victory was based on hard work.

‘There were a number of outstanding individual performances, but on the whole it was a real team effort.

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‘Our forwards were magnificent creating the platform to unleash our powerful runners.

‘It enabled us to create a number of chances which we clinically finished off.’

In the first half, it was a case of Portsmouth containing their hosts to lead 12-3 at the break.

Both the first half tries resulted from two great individual finishes from winger Noah Cannon - at the end of 10 phases of play.

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In the opening 10 minutes of the second period Portsmouth took charge.

Their physicality up front began to take its toll on the home side and the visitors weren't slow to exploit it.

Winger Tom Hopkins came off the bench to score a hat-trick of tries.

'In the last half-hour, we capitalised on all our earlier hard work,' added McRoberts.

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Prop forward Dan Sergeant also got in on the try-scoring, bulldozing his way over from five metres.

Ben Smith added three conversions as Portsmouth eventually cruised to their win.

‘We are two-thirds of the way to achieving our target of three wins this month,’ said McRoberts.

‘The way the results went means that we are back in the mix.

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‘It is important that we just keep doing what works for us and see what happens.’

Portsmouth are placed fifth in the league, nine points behind second-placed Old Tiffinians.

n Gosport & Fareham fell deeper into relegation trouble with a thumping 71-14 defeat at table-toppers Reeds Weybridge.

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