A first home match at Gosport Park saw Gosport & Fareham record their first win on the season, 20 points to 11 against the high flying and second placed Farnham RFC.

Gosport Park’s reputation for bringing out the worst in the weather didn’t disappoint with heavy rain and a stiff wind playing a leading role in the match. Gosport playing with the wind in their backs, despite early possession were the first to concede after 9 minutes with a Farnham penalty. Gosport responded quickly however and their line speed in defence began to force errors from Farnham leading to a long range penalty attempt that Gosport Centre and captain for the day, Dom Holling just slid wide of the posts. The pressure continued however and after a series of composed phases the ball came out to Dane Smallbone, playing his first match of the season at fly half to go over and score Gosport’s first try which was converted by Holling.

Farnham pushed on though the half and although the Gosport defence continued to stand strong, two penalties were conceded which Farnham chose to try and kick – both were missed. A late penalty in the half from Holling saw the home side go into the changing rooms at half time 10-3 up.

Despite having the wind in their faces second half, Gos started much the stronger with Sean Shepherd going over to score Gosport’s second try. It wasn’t all plain sailing however. Farnham began to use the wind to force field position which, primarily resulted in a converted try followed shortly after by a successful penalty to move within 4 points.

The pressure that Farnham were putting on Gosport and the resultant series of penalties conceded led to a yellow card for Gosport’s scrum half Wesley Dugan and the backs needing to reorganise with approximately 15 minutes to go.

Whether it was the home advantage though, playing in front of a rain sodden but enthusiastic crowd or simply the team converting what they had been practising in training but Gosport remained extremely composed in possession in the final stages to see the game out. In the final few minutes the team went from being camped on their own line, to working through the phases, including an impressive series of rolling mauls to end up with man of the match Sean Shepherd powering into the corner to seal the win.

Head coach George Hillan was delighted with the performance. “The lads did exactly what we asked of them in training – to work on their defence and they did that. We had worked on our line speed, to put the pressure on and force the mistakes” George was also impressed with the composure shown. “our game management was much better today, we understood the conditions and played to our strengths which today was our pack”.

With the 2s also winning at home against Totts 2s, it was a good day all round for Gosport & Fareham