Portsmouth right in the mix at the top after third winÂ

Portsmouth continued their winning start under new coach Neil McRoberts with a 22-7 win against Old Whitgiftians at Rugby Camp.
Portsmouth have been in superb form while Petersfield haven't quite been able to get over the line in games. Picture: Neil MarshallPortsmouth have been in superb form while Petersfield haven't quite been able to get over the line in games. Picture: Neil Marshall
Portsmouth have been in superb form while Petersfield haven't quite been able to get over the line in games. Picture: Neil Marshall

Three wins out of three leaves Portsmouth placed third in London three south west.

They are right up there with the leaders.

McRoberts felt his team benefited from a strong defensive effort and they could even have won by more.

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He said: '˜The only thing separating us from leaders Winchester is two bonus points.

'˜It is important we keep the winning habit.

'˜The start we have had is very pleasing and again we showed an improvement.

'˜We were very good defensively, keeping them down to seven points.

'˜Had it not been such a wet day we would probably have won by a bigger margin.'

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Ball retention was always difficult in the wet conditions but the visitors struck first with a converted try after five minutes.

Portsmouth hit back through winger Luke Simmons who outpaced the visitors' cover to score under the posts.

Simon Morgan knocked over a penalty to give the home side an 8-7 lead at the break.

Sully CauCau and Ian French claimed further tries with Morgan adding both conversions.

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Petersfield are still searching for a first win after losing narrowly 26-22 at Andover.

Captain Jack Lumbard admitted it is frustrating.

They have had the chances to win all their games so far.

He said: '˜We're three games in and in every one at half time we look like it's ours for the taking. 

'˜We need to put in a big push to make sure we start seeing these games out. We must keep our heads high and go again.

Jim Tribe, Lumbard and Tom Land scored the three Petersfield tries.

Josh Haslett kicked a penalty and two conversions.

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United Services Portsmouth celebrated a first home win with a confident 26-5 success against Trojans at Burnaby Road

Southsea Nomads lost to Fawley again with a 25-5 Hampshire two defeat.

In the wind and driving rain Nomads quickly found themselves 10 points in arrears before hitting back.

Scrum-half Gregory Stewart took a quick tap penalty and combined with Ben Horrod to put winger Dan Hurry in for a try '“ his first of the season.

Fawley seem to have the edge over Nomads recently.

Horrod said: '˜Conditions weren't in our favour but Fawley adapted to them much better and quicker than we did.

'˜When we spread the ball wide we caused the Fawley defence huge problems.'