U16s lose their sparkle

Another league game once again saw Gosport & Fareham starting with just thirteen men with Vectis agreeing to match numbers. Gosport & Fareham playing into the elements on a cool Sunday Guy Fawkes morning. The opening few minutes were scrappy with both sides sparring for dominance. Within 3 minutes Vectis opened the score with a well worked try which was converted. This score was doubled after 6 minutes with Gosport’s defence asleep and the opponents up 14-0.
Gosport settled down and won a scrum against the head and on 12 minutes Benjamin Smith went on a mazey run and scored a great individual try 5-14. The conversion was missed.
Some open play followed and Vectis attacked for the line but a textbook tackle by Alexander Stepnitz stopped them in their tracks. The following five metre attacking scrum Vectis scored again with a further successful conversion. Gosport were now down 5-21 after 23 minutes. A further score by the opponents following a high tackle made it 5-26 with the conversion missed.
Gosport then fought back with a second try by Benjamin Smith just to the right of the sticks. He converted to make it 12-26 after 24 minutes.
In the 26 minute Samuel Taylor took a knock during a tackle and then left the field for the rest of the game.
Following the lengthy delay for the injury, the last play of the half saw Vectis score their fifth try to make half time score 12-33.
The second half resumed and it was one way traffic again for Vectis who scored two converted tries within five minutes to open the gap to 12-47.
Gosport attacked from a quick tap on 9 minutes and the ball went along to Alexander Stepnitz who went over in the corner with the conversion missed Vectis led 17-47.
The remaining half Vectis turned the screw and scored three more tries making the score 17-64 with a minute to go in the second half.
With one last chance to regain a bit of pride, Gosport dug deep and attacked with Alex Burnett setting off on a run before driving their last defender over the line and scoring in the left corner. Robert Ellis slotted a beautifully taken conversion over from the side line to make the final score 24-64.
Looking back the best team won on the day but Gosport must pick themselves up for the league clash against Basingstoke.

Natasha Davis
U16s Match Reporter