Havant RFC (AWAY) - COLTS National Cup: Round 1

We have been lucky so far with the weather. Another great day with ideal rugby conditions greeted both teams at HAVANT RFC. The 1st round of the COLTS National Cup was underway.

Bruce Carle (Lead Coach), Gary Middleton (Backs), took the warm up, set piece and handling drills before retiring to the changing room for the teams final preparations.

There have been some say that a game is "played" over two halves. Never has this been so true.

Havant dominated the first half with swift ball from the breakdowns and some clever work by their backs. Within 15 minutes Havant were 21-0 up, running in 3 tries with conversions. Gosport & Fareham, though, refused to lie down. A fractious passage of play ignited Gosport with the issuing of 2 yellow cards for dangerous play and retaliation in the following discussions.

Havant scored again with a well worked backs move before Will Larkin (6), scored for Gosport after a trademark powerful run, bursting the Havant line. This brought the scores to 28-5 at half time.

It was certainly Havant’s half!

The second half turned the game on its head. Gosport slowed the ball and started to run the match with structured, powerful forwards play. A Man-of-the-Match performance from Ethan Carpenter (1) galvanised Gosport with several powerful line breaks that brought the forwards into the game with gusto. With this the Gosport scrummage started asserting its dominance. The forwards persistence paid off and intense pressure leading to several penalties inside Havant's 5metres. Gosport's Captain, Jack Stillion (2), was rewarded with a try that brought the scores to 28-10.

Once again Havant replied with another try, to bring the scores to 33-10.

However Gosport were to have the last say in the match with Grant Hill (8), scoring after wading through 3 players and carrying over 2 more with him. A conversion brought the game to an end with the score at 33-17.

Gosport played well but the telling difference was the power in the centres.

Final Score: HAVANT 33 (5 tries) - 17 (3 tries) GOSPORT & FAREHAM