Teenage Bradley Jewer provides Portsmouth bright spot on otherwise forgettable London 3 South West Old Emanuel trip

The 19-year-old replacement scored a try and was influential in helping the visitors strom back from 14-0 behind to level proceedings at 17-17.

However, a fine late surge from Old Emanuel eventually saw them run out 29-17 victors.

It was a setback for Portsmouth, who were on a high having secured their first win of the season against bottom-side Basingstoke last time out.

But there was still one bright spot to take away for head coach Gareth Richards - the debut performance of young gun Brewer.

Richards said: ‘I thought we did really well to get ourselves back into the game. We had a 19-year-old first-team debutant, Bradley Jewer, almost single handedly get us back in the game with one outstanding line break which we managed to score from. Then he put in a really intelligent kick into the back field that he chased down himself and he scored from that.

‘We had a shortage of back three players so he came with us Saturday, came off the bench and had a really strong individual, so that was a really pleasing aspect of Saturday.’

Replacement Jewer proved the catalyst as Portsmouth made a mini-revival against Old Emanuel.

First, his fantastic break led to Greg Hoolihan's try before adding a score himself as the visitors battled back from 14-0 behind to pull level at 17-17.

However, just as it looked as though Portsmouth would go onto claim victory, Old Emanuel produced a super late show to take it 29-17 to leave Richards' men sitting second-bottom with just one win from eight league matches.

Richards added: ‘lll-discipline, really, ultimately cost us. We gave away a number of penalties that allowed Old Emanuel to come up the field and put pressure on us just when I thought we had all the momentum.

‘They managed to score a couple of late tries to run away with it. It was a disappointing end to the game, to be honest.’