U13 A End 2011 on a High

On a freezing cold December morning, Gosport & Fareham A team made the short journey to Havant for what promised to be a tough game. However, despite some good passages of play and extended periods of pressure from the home side, Gos finished as deserved winners by three tries to one in a game that they never looked like losing.
Much of the first half was stop-start, punctuated by a series of scrums, which prevented either side from building any real momentum. Both sides forced turnovers in the early exchanges and sought to impose themselves in the scrum, each taking turns to get in a good shove on opposition ball. Gosport were solid in defence against Petersfield and showed the same determination against Havant, with tackles from hooker, Rhys Morgan and Matt “Curly” Freeman, who had another outstanding game at open-side If the scrum was something of an arm wrestle at times, the Gosport forwards were getting the upper hand in open play as Havant took the ball into the maul on several occasions and were held up by Gosport to force the turnover.
The home side were starting to feel the pressure as a superb break from the visitors took play up to the Havant line, with the ball finding its way from Connor Parkinson at 8 to Stephen Cheatle at 12, via Freeman. Havant breathed a sigh of relief as Gosport knocked on but then knocked on themselves to concede a scrum just 5 metres from their own line. Scrum-half Matthew John linked with Parkinson, who fed tight-head Chris Wallis, seemingly a dead cert to score from close range. Havant somehow managed to stop Wallis just short, Morgan was on hand to dive for the loose ball but was held up over the line to deny the try. Once again, Havant's relief was short-lived as they infringed in preventing the try and conceded a penalty in the process. Matt John popped the ball up to outside centre and man-of-the-match Jake Moseley who took it at pace and wasn't going to be stopped from just a couple of metres out.
Nothing motivates a side like scoring a try and, after seeing some reward for their efforts, Gosport started to open up the Havant defence, as Freeman made 50 metres from the restart before he was stopped. Within a couple of minutes, Gosport were on the attack again, this time Jack Haggard making the break, the move well-supported and the ball passing through several pairs of hands, before Moseley gratefully received to touch down under the posts. Havant's efforts to cut the deficit were thwarted by the resolute Gosport defence, which continued to apply pressure on any Havant possession. Gos looked to finish the half on a high as they immediately stole back possession following a Havant penalty and Cheatle broke down the wing. Cheatle offloaded to Haggard who made a few extra yards before he was tackled into touch to bring the first half to a close.
The early minutes of the second half were somewhat back and forth, with a number of penalties and scrums interrupting the flow of play; Gosport made breaks through Cheatle, Moseley and blind-side flanker, Liam Capper but were unable to capitalise on these. Ten minutes in to the half, Havant found themselves with a defensive scrum deep inside their 22 and, having secured their own ball, tried to relieve the pressure with a clearing kick. Scrum-half John had other ideas and charged down the kick, with the ball bouncing kindly for Gosport; the referee's arm went up for the try and, when the players disentangled themselves from the mêlée, it was no. 8 Parkinson receiving the pats on the back from his team-mates.
After some more broken phases of play, Havant were starting to try and exert some pressure but the Gosport defence was more than a match and the home side found themselves going backwards with the ball more than once. Gos looked comfortable playing in their own 22, with or without the ball, and seemed set to keep another zero score but a succession of penalties to the home side made that an almost impossible task. Three penalties, one straight after the other, deep in the visitors' 22 meant that the inevitable finally happened and, despite some heroic defending from Gosport, Havant scored under the posts. By this time, the game was all but over and safely won so the try was little more than a consolation for the home side, who'd never really looked like threatening the Gosport line for most of the match.