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Sun 11 Dec 2011
Petersfield
U13M - The Stingrays
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38
U13 A Team Inflict Heavy Defeat on Petersfield
Michelle Larkin11 Dec 2011 - 21:42
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A five-try blitz in the second half earned a convincing win for the U13 A team
After a relatively comfortable win against Petersfield in last month's cup match, Gosport & Fareham travelled up the A3, looking for another victory. In a game which proved scrappy at times, due to a number of handling errors from both sides, Gosport started brightly with some strong running and solid defensive work. Petersfield struggled at the set pieces on a number of occasions, which made it hard to build an attacking platform and put them under pressure in defence. Gosport exposed the weaknesses in the home side's line-out early on as Matt “Curly” Freeman pilfered the ball from a Petersfield throw and powered through a gap in their defence to open the scoring. Gosport's backs and forwards linked up well, as the forwards forced a turnover on half-way, which released inside centre Stephen Cheatle. Cheatle's break took play to the Petersfield 5 metre line and, while the home side were able to stop the initial attack, their failure to win their own throw cost them seven points as Freeman made the most of the opportunity and Matthew “Dids” Symington added the conversion.
The game remained at 0-7 for the rest of the half as both sides created opportunites but were unable to finish them off. Gosport came close to scoring twice, first as Ethan Carpenter made the most of dropped pass from Petersfield to counter attack and take Gosport to within a couple of metres of the try line. Gosport worked the ball out to outside centre Tom Collins, who was tackled just short of the line. Within a couple of minutes, Gos were on the attack again as man-of-the-match Jack Haggard picked up and drove. Once again, Gosport looked like scoring but were denied as the ball was knocked forward over the line. A few minutes later, Petersfield secured possession from their own scrum, despite some excellent work from the Gosport forwards, and spread the ball out to the backs. This time, the passes went to hand and a promising run down the wing was ended by a superb tackle from Stephen Cheatle, with the rest of the Gosport defence arriving in numbers to neutralise the danger.
It's fair to say that, while the half-time score was close, Gosport were looking reasonably comfortable at this stage and out-competing the home side in most areas. As the second half got under way, Gosport started to press home their advantage and build on the platform established in the first half. An outstanding 50 metre solo try from winger Sam Hudson opened the scoring in the second half as he left the Petersfield defence trailing and touched down under the posts.
A quickly taken line-out from Petersfield showed ambition and the resulting possession meant that they were able to threaten the Gosport 22 but more handling errors gave the initiative back to the visitors as Hudson pounced on a loose ball to win a turnover. The Petersfield scrum was always under pressure and, once again, failure to win their own set piece cost the home side points. This time, no. 8 Connor Parkinson picked up from the base of the scrum and fed the ball out to Symington, who ran 30-40 metres down the wing, then cut inside and scored under the posts.
Gosport's dominance was really starting to show by this point and Jack Haggard wasted no time in creating try number four. Haggard gathered the re-start and ran down the wing, punching deep into Petersfield territory before he was stopped. The Gosport forwards arrived in numbers to win the breakdown and hooker Rhys Morgan picked up and squeezed over in the corner to score in his first A game.
Some powerful runs by Liam Capper and James Rowe kept up the pressure on Petersfield and a solid defensive effort by the Gosport team as a whole meant that the home side were frequently being pushed backwards on their own ball. A sustained period of Gosport pressure led to a penalty 10 metres from the Petersfield line, Gos took full advantage, keeping the ball alive through several phases and creating space in the Petersfield defence for Cheatle to burst through and score. Gos weren't finished yet and despite winning a penalty up near half way, Petersfield soon found themselves back in their own 22. After winning a defensive scrum deep in their own half, Petersfield kicked to clear their lines but failed to find touch, the ball came back at them through a series of powerful forward drives and Cheatle was able to pick up and score in the corner to make it 0-38 with the last play of the game.
The game remained at 0-7 for the rest of the half as both sides created opportunites but were unable to finish them off. Gosport came close to scoring twice, first as Ethan Carpenter made the most of dropped pass from Petersfield to counter attack and take Gosport to within a couple of metres of the try line. Gosport worked the ball out to outside centre Tom Collins, who was tackled just short of the line. Within a couple of minutes, Gos were on the attack again as man-of-the-match Jack Haggard picked up and drove. Once again, Gosport looked like scoring but were denied as the ball was knocked forward over the line. A few minutes later, Petersfield secured possession from their own scrum, despite some excellent work from the Gosport forwards, and spread the ball out to the backs. This time, the passes went to hand and a promising run down the wing was ended by a superb tackle from Stephen Cheatle, with the rest of the Gosport defence arriving in numbers to neutralise the danger.
It's fair to say that, while the half-time score was close, Gosport were looking reasonably comfortable at this stage and out-competing the home side in most areas. As the second half got under way, Gosport started to press home their advantage and build on the platform established in the first half. An outstanding 50 metre solo try from winger Sam Hudson opened the scoring in the second half as he left the Petersfield defence trailing and touched down under the posts.
A quickly taken line-out from Petersfield showed ambition and the resulting possession meant that they were able to threaten the Gosport 22 but more handling errors gave the initiative back to the visitors as Hudson pounced on a loose ball to win a turnover. The Petersfield scrum was always under pressure and, once again, failure to win their own set piece cost the home side points. This time, no. 8 Connor Parkinson picked up from the base of the scrum and fed the ball out to Symington, who ran 30-40 metres down the wing, then cut inside and scored under the posts.
Gosport's dominance was really starting to show by this point and Jack Haggard wasted no time in creating try number four. Haggard gathered the re-start and ran down the wing, punching deep into Petersfield territory before he was stopped. The Gosport forwards arrived in numbers to win the breakdown and hooker Rhys Morgan picked up and squeezed over in the corner to score in his first A game.
Some powerful runs by Liam Capper and James Rowe kept up the pressure on Petersfield and a solid defensive effort by the Gosport team as a whole meant that the home side were frequently being pushed backwards on their own ball. A sustained period of Gosport pressure led to a penalty 10 metres from the Petersfield line, Gos took full advantage, keeping the ball alive through several phases and creating space in the Petersfield defence for Cheatle to burst through and score. Gos weren't finished yet and despite winning a penalty up near half way, Petersfield soon found themselves back in their own 22. After winning a defensive scrum deep in their own half, Petersfield kicked to clear their lines but failed to find touch, the ball came back at them through a series of powerful forward drives and Cheatle was able to pick up and score in the corner to make it 0-38 with the last play of the game.
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