On yet another beautifully crisp autumnal morning the boys trotted out onto the hallowed turf of Pitch 2 in front of a record attendance of 32 and 2 dogs. They all looked far too cheerful, perhaps the something - 0 defeat to Petersfield last season was but a distant memory?
I saw the kick off from the club house...the ball lofted high into the azure sky...and in another classic Chris "Have they Geoff?" Kamara incident, totally missed the first try by the time I reached pitch side. I'm reliably informed though that it went something like this (queue wibbly dream sequence effect)...
At some point after the kick off there was some excellent jackling from Alex B which resulted in the ball being won for Gosport and Fareham, flipped out to Harvey before finding itself in the possession of Ben S who put his Strictly Come Dancing obsession into practice and pirouetted and jeté'd* his way across the line to dab the ball down between the posts. The conversion from Harvey saw Gosport and Fareham 7-0 up after about 7 minutes.

*That bit may not be entirely accurate but it's sort of what I was told happened...possibly.

Petersfield threatened the line a couple of times but the defence held firm until the opposition broke through 8 minutes later in the far corner. They then doubled their score 9 minutes after the first - fortunately both conversions were placed wide of the posts.
Gosport and Fareham 7 - 10 Petersfield...was this going to set the tone for the remainder of the match?
Then, with just a minute to go before half time, the Forwards piled into a mid field ruck, securing the ball for Gosport and Fareham. Max dug the ball out, it flew down the line, slipping through the hands of the Backs before finding its way to Ollie on the 22. He stepped inside, causing the Petersfield Full Back to slip and miss the tackle before powering toward the corner with just the two props to beat...a foot race he won easily as he slid across the line for Gosport and Fareham's second of the day. Harvey's conversion from the sideline slid just to the wrong side of the upright as the whistle went for half time.

Gosport and Fareham 12 - 10 Petersfield