‘We need a rethink’ – Portsmouth RFC coach Richards after London 3 South West home thrashing by Hampshire rivals Petersfield

Portsmouth RFC head coach Gareth Richards admits he will have a tactical ‘rethink’ after his side were ‘outplayed’ in the second half of their latest London 3 South West defeat.
A Petersfield player about to run in another try during his side's London 3 South West win at Rugby Camp. Picture: Neil MarshallA Petersfield player about to run in another try during his side's London 3 South West win at Rugby Camp. Picture: Neil Marshall
A Petersfield player about to run in another try during his side's London 3 South West win at Rugby Camp. Picture: Neil Marshall

The city club were leading Hampshire rivals - and divisional table-toppers - Petersfield 9-3 at around the half-hour mark at Rugby Camp.

However, two quick tries from the visitors just before half-time seemed to suck the confidence out of Portsmouth and they were eventually drubbed 48-19 - their fourth straight league loss of the season.

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‘For 30/35 minutes we were right in the game,’ said Richards. ‘We had played some good rugby, it was a good contest.

‘But a couple of unforced errors saw them score two tries in the five or six minutes before half-time, and it went downhill from there really.

‘Perhaps it showed that we’re lacking a bit of confidence. You could see in the body language of the boys - shoulders dropped, heads dropped, and we never really recovered..

‘It was probably the most disappointing defeat so far, because of the number of points conceded.’

Richards added: ‘

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‘I said a few weeks ago I believed we were trying to play the right way, but I’m not so sure now.

We need to have a rethink. I will probably question whether I have chosen the right tactics for this group.

‘So far I’ve played a particular way because of my rugby philosophy, but we need a rethink to try and adapt to get the best out of the players.’

Availability has been an issue so far. Richards reckoned there were 28 players unavailable across the three senior men’s teams at the weekend - around a third of the players signed on (clubs are allowed to register 100 players).

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‘I haven’t been able to field the same team twice,’ said Richards. ‘And that makes it harder when you’re trying to play a particular way.

‘I’m not using that as an excuse. Petersfield scored some good tries, they were an attacking threat out wide, and we were well beaten in the end. We were outplayed from 35 minutes on and we didn’t have an answer.

‘If we’d held on to lead 9-3 at half-time … I don’t know, but you could see the confidence was low after three defeats, especially with the manner of some of them coming late on.

Petersfield opened the scoring when Portsmouth were caught offside and 'Field converted a sixth minute penalty.

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Portsmouth levelled 10 minutes later through Gareth Davies’ successful kick, and the same player added a drop goal to put the host ahead on 22 minutes.

Portsmouth had a chance to further increase their lead when they were awarded a penalty just inside the 10 metre line, but Davies's kick just shaded the left hand post.

But shortly after Davies landed a second penalty to make the score 9-3 on 29 minutes. That was as good as it was to get for the hosts.

A penalty against Portsmouth saw Petersfield’s scrum half take a quick tap penalty and dart under the posts for a converted try which restored their lead on 34 minutes.

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Two more unconverted tries followed before half-time - the first after Petersfield won a scrum against the head and produced some slick passing to score wide out.

Portsmouth were first off the mark in the second half, Davies’ third penalty of the game closing the gap to 20-12. But within 10 minutes Petersfield led 34-12 following two converted tries.

Refusing to roll over, Portsmouth grabbed their sole try when No 8 Aaron Beesley barged his way over for a score converted by Davies (34-19) with about 15 minutes remaining.

The visitors finished strongly, though, with two more converted tries.

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There were a sprinkling of former Portsmouth players in the Petersfield team, including Tom Whitehouse - who got amongst the tries - Jackson Clark and Alex Duffus.

Portsmouth, third from bottom, face Old Georgians next weekend.

Portsmouth: Adam Parks-Dare, Greg Hoolihan, Rhys Bowen, Darren Crabb, Darren Leggott, Dan Perry, Anthony Fooks, Aaron Beesley, Elliot Davis, Gareth Davies, Connor Chalton, Lees Chandler, Dan Gates, Sam Olie, Tim Weale. Bench: Finn Parry, Sam Foster, Scott Weatherhead.

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