US Portsmouth v Saints

Saints made a number of changes to the side that beat Fordingbridge, with Pierre moving to fly half in place of the injured Dave Griffiths and Julian Robbins coming in to outside centre. A new-look back row saw Dan Keepax and Rob Greenaway on the flanks, with Ben Peter at number eight.

Saints got off the mark early, when US were penalised for not releasing on the floor allowing Pierre to slot home the 3 points. But when the restart dropped exactly on the 10 metre line and was tapped back by an advancing Pompey hand, Saints were almost caught napping. But some good tackling kept the sailors at bay and when the ball was turned over and quickly spun out to the Saints backs, Pierre put in an awkward kick towards the left touchline. Possibly unwisely, the Pompey right winger kept the ball in play and was immediately smothered by Jules, who got man and ball and drove the defender backwards towards his own line. The ball spilled out and Jules hacked it over the try line; he then won the sprint to the ball and touched down for the game's first try. Pierre couldn't find the target with the conversion, but Saints led 8-0.

Despite a reminder of the problems at the last restart from Coach Graham Harris, Saints looked indecisive again as the ball dropped perfectly on the 10 metre line. Again, a US hand got to the ball first and tapped it back to his suppoprting pack, who were coming through at speed. Saints were then found guilty of handling at the ruck, giving US Pompey the chance to reduce the deficit to 3-8. At this point, Jason Kehoe realised he had exceeded his fifteen-minute rugby allowance for the week, so was replaced by John Sharpe at right wing.

Although the Saints line out looked solid the scrum was put under some considerable pressure by US Pompey, who looked to wheel it at every opportunity. When scrum half Ward struggled to get the ball out from under his eight's feet, he was caught by his opposite man and knocked on, giving USP a scrum on the Saints 22. The ball was picked up by the 8, who exploited some missed tackles and popped to his support who crossed the try line just left of the uprights. Likewise, the conversion was also wide to the left, which squared the scores at 8-8.

Although Saints' scrum wobbled, their pack looked dangerous going forward. In a game that was broken up by a constant stream of injuries, Saints spent much of the first half in the Portsmouth half. Right at the end of the first period, a series of big hits drove the visitors to within a yard of Pompey's line, with Marcus and Dan Keepax controlling the ball at the back of a solid maul. Seeing how close they were, scrum half Ward gave the maul a helpful shove, which was enough to drive the ball over the line. Keepax dropped to the floor with the ball and Saints were back in front. The conversion was wide from Pierre, taking the score to 8-13.

After looking shaky at both of Pompey's previous restarts, Saints struggled again as the ball dropped invitingly on their 10 yard line. Again it had been chased excellently by the US pack and with nobody from Southampton claiming the bouncing ball, a Pompey forward hacked the ball through into a gap. As Ward came up from the back, the Pompey player attempted to nudge it past him, but a desperate outstretched foot put the ball safely in touch, right on the halftime whistle.

The second half continued like the first, with a number of breaks in play for injuries and blood. As the game progressed, the US Pompey players got more and more frustrated and started to let it show. When Bean's pass opened up an overlap on the left wing, the home side called for a forward pass. The ref agreed but took exception to Pompey's repeated appeals and awarded the visitors a penalty, which Pierre drilled into the corner. The pack called a pre-rehearsed move from the line out, but this time the Pompey defence did enough to disrupt it and kick clear.

Both teams had chances in the second half and a spell of Pompey pressure saw Saints trapped within 5 yards of their own line for a tense five minutes. After a 5 yard Pompey scrum the number 8 picked up himself, but his run was halted by some good defence and the ball turned over. With tries seemingly hard to come by, Pierre was keen to keep the scoreboard ticking over and when he took the ball just outside the Pompey 22, he saw nothing on and lined up a drop goal. It looked good, but then faded left at the end. Replacement John Sharpe then went down with an injury and was replaced himself on the right wing by Phil Orrell; cruelly robbing the crowd of an appeareance by the mercurial Steve Dewey.

As the game neared the end with the score still 8-13, Saints were keen to widen the gap and so gratefully took the chance of three points when Portsmouth failed to release on the floor. Pierre put the kick over from in front of the posts and with an eight point gap and only moments left, Portsmouth's heads seemed to drop. Saints kept the last few minutes tight and when the ref blew the final whistle, the visitors' delight was obvious. The final score was 8-16 to Saints, making it two league wins on the trot.

The team currently in second place, Sandown and Shanklin, come to Test Park next week on the back of a 30-13 victory over Fordingbridge.