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Petersfield's RFC Match reports
19/03/2012
Match Report by James Blumlein
U13s Hampshire U13 Plate Semi-final
Petersfield U13 (34) v Fordingbridge U13 (17)
After weeks of waiting U13’s captain Haldenby was finally able to lead his noble team out to face a well-heeled Fordingbridge team for the semi-final of the U13’s Hampshire Plate competition. The fixture had originally been scheduled for the 5th of February, but had initially been postponed due to a frozen pitch before having to wait for Sunday free from team commitments. The match took pride of place on the 1st XV pitch in front of the club house under the watchful eye of the Balconeers and the large crowd that gathered along the touchline.
The downpour of the previous day meant that the pitch was slippery underfoot; conditions that looked to be to Field’s disadvantage as they presented a potential barrier to the slick passing game that has become their trademark this season. Petersfield kicked off and immediately won the advantage as Fordingbridge knocked on. Moving the ball left to right Field took the ball through a few phases before Tarling broke through to run in from twenty metres. It was Field’s turn to face the restart, but Myer safely gathered the slick ball and took it into contact. Quick recycling caught
Fordinbridge on the hop and this time it was Blumlein who ran it in from fifty metres and added the extras with a simple conversion. Field repeated their try-scoring achievement from the restart with Mathews securing and recycling to free the backs. With a variety of switches and loops Kelson fed Guyer who threw a beautifully weighted pass to Blumlein to again run it in from distance. All of this within the first ten minutes of play.
It was Fordingbridge’s turn to benefit from their restart and an unforced error resulted in a scrum on the Field ten metre line from which Fordingbridge developed some good phases using their power through the middle. Field’s defence held well under the onslaught, but eventually cracked to allow the visitors their first points in the corner.
During the break coaches Devlin and Woodward shuffled the squad with the replacements slotting in so effortlessly that the team didn’t miss a beat. An early scrum allowed Haldenby to pick and go with a brilliant angled run. His insightful pass to Tarling cut open the away teams defence and Field were in their twenty two. Field controlled the phases beautifully with forwards and backs combining to move the opposition left and right. Eventually Haldenby essayed a phenomenal dive under two props to slide in for the fourth try.
Blumlein, covering all the positions, received the restart near his own line and took off down the length of the pitch handing off Fordingbridge players on the way with South in support. He demonstrated a Maori sidestep before going over the line where unfortunately, the spectacular move came to an end as a collision caused him to drop the ball. Fordingbridge cleared their lines and, in the ensuing play, some unsportsmanlike language from a Field player was punished with a penalty. Fordingbridge took full advantage of Field’s sloppy tackling to take easy try under the posts.
Blumlein’s high hanging restart helped Field to turn over the ball and, with a fantastic off-load, Eves fed South who mishandled to prevent a certain try. However, the amazing defence of the Field backs turned the ball over once again. Out wide, Blumlein kicked over the defence before scorching through to fly-hack the ball over the try line before diving on it to score.
Field again received from the restart with a great take from Brown and with Francis supporting the forwards made it to the Fordingbridge ten metre line. The backs wanted it but the forwards maintained control and good individual efforts from Hicks and Moore saw Petersfield once again in sight of the line. Woodward created his own hole in the visitor’s defence, driving through four or five players before crashing over under the posts to a great roar from his teammates.
Petersfield then knew they had won the match and a lack of concentration and poor defending meant Fordingbridge scored their third try.
Overall it was a well-played match from the home side however the team cannot afford to rest on their laurels as a stiff match awaits them next week against Worthing. The return of Hird, Hall, Phillips and Rainbow will help strengthen then squad.
Team: Blumlein, Devlin; Eves; Haldenby; Hicks; Tarling; Banks; Woodward; Phillips; O'Kelly; Hammond; Mathews; Brown; Myer; Guyer; Moore; Francis; Kelson; South
Report by: Steve Dryden
Havant Development Colts (5) v PRFC Mustangs (24)
With the Petersfield pitches playing host to the Hampshire County U11/12 Tournament, the Petersfield Mustangs were required to change what should have been a home fixture to play away again at Havant. The Petersfield and Havant Colt development teams had last clashed in November at Hooks Lane and it was a case of déjà vu as a similar game unfolded that ended with an improved resuIt for the Mustangs.
The game started with Havant on the attack and the Mustangs forced to defend for the first 15 minutes. Field soaked up the pressure and then, slowly but surely, the forwards began to get on top and win some ball. Tactical kicking by D. Dryden helped pin Havant back and the Mustangs began to apply their own pressure. Field could have and should have taken the lead earlier than they did, but unforced errors prevented them from converting their pressure into points. Eventually, though, the points came as fly-half D. Dryden looped around to take a return pass before out-sprinting the cover defence to score under posts; converting the extras with ease.
The Mustangs were now on top and started to play; the forwards produced a number of phases of continuous play with Martin, Briggs, Swift, Wood and Kemp all involved on numerous occasions. The lineouts were working like clockwork, with Fitzpatrick connecting well with jumper M. Dryden, providing good ball for the backs to play off. Field’s next try came after Havant had been pinned down in their 22 and conceded a penalty in their desperate defence. The Mustangs elected to scrum which was won and picked up at the back by number 8 Martin. Once Martin had powered over, D. Dryden once again made the conversion.
The otherwise positive half finished on a bum note as Mustangs’ winger Bouton was felled by a cover tackle whilst cutting inside his opposite number. This left him somewhat dazed and ended the day for him.
With a few changes made at half time the Mustangs went out for the second period comfortably in control. Once again Field sat back for the first 15 minutes and allowed Havant to attack them. This time though Havant succeeded in converting their efforts into points as their very fast wing was given early ball and used his pace to round the Mustangs defence and touch down in the corner. This might have signalled the start of a Havant comeback, but whilst Havant were taking, and missing, the conversion, Mustangs’ captain Kemp laid out a few home truths to his team. He didn’t have to wait long for a reaction and the Mustangs went back on the offensive. Centres Wakefield and Orr were given some possession and started to make some yards, admirably supported by fullback Haslett who gave 100% to everything … even though it didn’t always come off. Voller stole a line out in the Havant 22 and fly half D. Dryden took the ball on. Although he was stopped short he managed to off-load to Orr who dragged a couple of defenders over with him as he scored. Dryden kept his 100% conversion record intact with the extras. The game continued in the same pattern with the only additional score coming from the boot of Dryden as he slotted a penalty to take Field to a well-deserved 24 points to 5 win.
The Mustangs welcomed back Wood, Swift and Martin and also new comer Harley, all of whom played their part in this fine win. The team now look forward to the semi-finals of the London and SE U17 Cup when they host the winners of the quarter-final match between Westcombe Park and Dorking.
Team: Bevan, Boulton, Bowen, Briggs, Cosway, DeCourcy, D Dryden, M Dryden, Fitzpatrick, Groves, Haslett, Kemp, Lynch, Martin, Orr, Swift, Voller, Wakefield, Wood
Match Report by: John Hoffman
U17 National Cup Second Round
Petersfield U17 (10) v Dorking U17 (27)
On paper Field’s U17 team look a force to be reckoned with against most opposition, however, this Sunday they were up against a well drilled and highly focused Dorking team. Their intent was clear long before kick-off as they worked diligently through their warm-up drills supervised by their five coaches. Whilst the U17s worked just as hard in their own warm-up, their preparations did not help their cause as they lost their scrum half whilst going through the routine.
The warm-up loss meant that U16 stalwart and current scrum-half, Thomas Gillett, was thrown in at the deep-end with his first ever start for the U17s. The youngster showed no signs of nerves as replacement scum half, effortlessly linking the forwards and backs and serving his midfield backs well with crisp passes from the breakdown. Field’s forwards were providing Gillett with good ball from their solid mauling but were caught napping by a quick penalty from Dorking that resulted in the first try of the game.
Stung into life, the pack responded; just after the restart the backrow of Briggs, Mackay and Martin hounded the visitors and forced them into a series of errors. Driving Dorking deep into their own 22 the breakaway forwards turned over the ball which was fed out to the left to pugnacious hooker Lewis who darted over to equalize the score at 5-all.
This score was followed by a passage of sloppy play with the referee, Mr Hall, having a busy time in raising both arms. Petersfield developed more driving play into Dorking's 22 but, in the pressure that was building against the visitors was dissipated in the blink of an eye as a miscalculated pass was snapped up by a Dorking centre who sprinted through for an easy score. There soon followed another try for Dorking that, to the home support, appeared to come from a double movement.
To Field’s credit they came back from this double blow with some excellent play that was ultimately frustrated by the strong and effective Dorking defence, which included a fair amount of slowing down tactics. Dorking ran in another try just before half time to take the score at the break to 22-5 and leave Petersfield looking very much as though they were done in.
During the break, those visiting from Surrey must have felt that the flood gates would open for their team in the second half. However, they were not to know about the strength of character that runs through the red team like a bar of iron; to these lads, defeat is only to be considered once the final whistle blows. Petersfield came out of the blocks hard from the start of the second half and were far more aggressive in their intent than they had been in the opening period. Mr Hall’s arm was brought into overdrive as he penalised Dorking’s repeated infringement at the breakdown.
Somewhat surprisingly, given the weight of evidence on the pitch, only one yellow card was shown to the visitors. The red tide pressed hard, mounting attack after attack; captain Renwick was held up twice and no.8 Martin was adjudged to have lost the ball over the line, fullback Monks, hitting the line perfectly, was courageously tackled full on by his opposite number mere feet before the try line.
Dorking made very little territory in the period but showed their killer instinct when chances arose. Their fly half saw a half a gap and squeezed through to score Dorking' only try in the second half. Field winger, Maginnis, breached the Dorking defence in the final minutes to give Petersfield a respectable final score of 10 to Dorking's 27.
Petersfield were up against a well drilled Dorking side who knew how to play constructive rugby and demonstrated good understanding between backs and forwards. Whilst Petersfield had their moments they appeared to lack the same cohesiveness as their visitors. Field played with great heart and there were many good individual displays but if they had played as a team from start to finish the scoreline could have been very different.
Much praise has to be given to Field’s three U16 backs who played with courage and determination and did not look out of place at all in what was, for them, a completely new team. So thank you and well done to Felix Tuff, Harry Pickett and Thomas Gillett.
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