Nice bonus for Portsmouth who show they are not rusty

Neil McRoberts was delighted to see Portsmouth pick up a 29-15 bonus-point win in their return to London three south west action at Old Whitgiftians.
Portsmouth had a good start to the new year. Picture: Duncan ShepherdPortsmouth had a good start to the new year. Picture: Duncan Shepherd
Portsmouth had a good start to the new year. Picture: Duncan Shepherd

'˜It was a good performance considering we hadn't played for the best part of a month.

'˜In the first 20 minutes we camped in their 22 and were in complete control.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

'˜When you dominate an opponent that much, though, you must make it count and get points on the board.

'˜Though we led 15-0 we should have scored a lot more.

'˜It was inevitable the game would get a bit looser later on.

'˜I am pleased though to come away with a bonus-point win away from home.'

The win keeps the city club in fourth place with a game in hand on the teams above them.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Cameron Duffus monopolised the early scoring with two tries, a penalty, and a conversion.

By 10 minutes into the second half, though, the home side had dragged themselves level at 15-15.

Will Brock restored Portsmouth's lead, crashing over from 10 yards and Mark Ovens added the bonus-point try.

United Services Portsmouth lost ground with a 22-14 defeat at Trojans.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Petersfield continued their improvement by beating Andover 34-22 at Penns Place.

Southsea Nomads came unstuck in their Hampshire two key clash with a 32-5 defeat against league-leaders Fawley.

The top side showed their class and Southsea Nomads captain Ben Horrod had to praise the defence for his team who did well.

He said: '˜Fawley are a good side and you can easily see from their performance why they are unbeaten this season.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

'˜They dominated possession but our defence was great and the defeat could have been much heavier.

'˜We were great at the set piece, at the scrum, and stealing the ball at the lineout. 

'˜I felt that we were just a little rusty after the Christmas break and didn't quite continue how we finished off last year.'

Jonathan Branston opened the scoring for Nomads with a try wide out on the right but the visitors displayed their power after that.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Man of the match for Nomads was awarded to Murray Hobson for his work-rate around the field and how he applied himself in the defensive effort for the team.

Horrod added: '˜He tackled everything that came near him and won lots of turnovers at the Fawley breakdown.'