Match Report: Ventnor 2nd XV v Portsmouth 4ths (away)
Portsmouth 4th XV 14 – Ventnor 2nd XV 59
A nineteen man strong 2nd XV squad made the trip to Portsmouth last weekend. A great turn out led to the luxury of four substitutes to choose from.
The Portsmouth 4th XV looked a fierce bunch on first impressions which proved totally founded straight from the kick off. Their large forward line got to work moving Ventnor back towards their own try line.
The early exchanges led to several cleverly instigated penalties against Ventnor as Portsmouth targeted key players. Despite the pressure the defence held fast and eventually the ball was turned over and Ventnor could attack. The ball was quickly moved up the field and Tom Engelgardt found himself on the end of the move as he kicked through and chased hard but just ran out of pitch as the ball went dead. This was the first glimmer of hope for Ventnor as they again came under the glare of the referee and a warning was issued.
After another spell of defensive work Ventnor finally made a decisive break and Warren Fresle scored in the left corner. Portsmouth came back strongly, wounded by the five points despite having most of the possession, only to be turned over again and with a neat move down the left wing Edwin Bodros went over to score.
For a third time Portsmouth strode back down the field thanks to some hard forward running and some more penalties conceded by Ventnor. Warren Riches was the unfortunate victim of the poor discipline and was sin binned for ten minutes. Down to fourteen men Ventnor seemed to regroup and Warren Fresle scored his second try of the half.
Going into the second half 15 – 0 up two substitutions were made for some fresh legs and Ventnor never looked back. Portsmouth were unable to match their first half performance and a whole string of tries for Ventnor killed off any chance of a comeback.
Two tries for Wayne Williams and two for Chris Thomson, in his first match for Ventnor, one even ably converted by himself. Two tries from Sam Pickard after some searing runs from midfield with seemingly half the Portsmouth team hanging from him!
Ian Mudge was next up for his first try after a fifteen year break from playing!
From the resulting kick off a fantastic take by Alex Morton regained possession which was capped of by Ventnor’s last try of the day for Martin McMeechan.
Two late consolation tries for Portsmouth were not exactly the best way to end the match but after discovering that two thirds of their team actually turned out to be from their 3rd XV it proved to be an even more impressive victory than originally thought!
Squad
G.Ball, R.Engelgardt, N.Malkin, M.McMeechan, L.Vanassche, T.Engelgardt, S.Pickard, A.Morton, I.Mudge, D.Martin, W.Fresle, T.Wells, W.Riches, E.Bodros, J.Meadowcroft, N.Winter, G.Simlar, C.Thomson & W.Williams
Report by Jonathan Meadowcroft
R.Engelgardt, T.Engelgardt, W.Williams, G.Ball, S.Pickard, G.Simlar, D.Martin, W.Riches, M.McMeechan, W.Fresle, L.Vanassche
C.Thomson, E.Bodros, T.Wells, A.Morton, N.Winter, N.Malkin (capt), I.Mudge, J.Meadowcroft
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