A disappointing start to 2019 for Gosport & Fareham, but not from the lack of desire and passion by all the players. Whilst preparation went well both Thursday night and prior to kick off we did not get get the result we desired to start the New Year off.

The warm up was one of the best the team have done all season and there was a buoyant mood within the squad prior to kick off, the lines of running were good, exceptional handling from both forwards and backs and the defensive structure looked good.

This fixture saw the introduction to the Senior XV for Sam Gee, with Wes Dugan moving to 10, it also saw the return of Shaun Taylor to the starting line-up. Gee performed very well and showed some exquisite touches during the game, and Taylor had his best game of the season in a Gosport and Fareham shirt.

After taking an early lead, we took our foot off the gas and let Farnham back into the game, which allowed their 10 and strong running centres to build in confidence and cause us problems in defence. Whilst our initial defensive set-up was not working the players dug deep and worked hard to rectify the short comings and turned an inconsistent defence into a very strong and reliable defence.

Unfortunately we did not manage the referee as we would have liked and this made our attacking options harder to execute. Our scrum was the stronger of the 2 packs, after an early difference of opinion with the referee the front row overcame this and ensured Farnham did not have easy possession at scrum time and even managed to take a scrum against the head (a rare thing in todays game).

We created a number of scoring opportunities, but unfortunately we were unable to convert these chances. There are are lot of positives to take from today's game and the players are already looking forward to welcoming Twickenham to Gosport Park on Saturday as they felt we should have taken points from the fixture earlier in the year, where even the Twickenham coaching staff admitted they did not deserve to win, so the players feel they have a point to prove.