Hosts Tott up scores to beat Chichester – Bognor find Portsmouth a home from home

Tottonians 30 Chichester 7

Regional 2 South Central

High-flying Totton proved too strong for Chichester.

The Blues made six changes to the team that lost to Farnham with Josh Cameron, Jay Manly and Ed Hansell coming into the pack, Gareth Davies (making his 50th 1st XV appearance) and Josef Amin in the backs and Timoli Matakiwai on the bench.

Under leaden skies Tottonians kicked off and immediately had Chichester under pressure. For the first 10 minutes, play was exclusively in Blues’ half with the hosts unable to find a way through the well drilled Chichester defence.

As the minutes ticked by it was apparent Tottonians’ frustration was compounding their handling errors with forward passes and knock-ons allowing Blues to clear.

On 17 minutes, Chichester mounted their first attack that saw Joel Andrews surge forward from the 10m line into the opposition half, before being checked. His attempt to present the ball was deemed a double movement and penalised.

A long kick down field provided Tottonians with a scrum penalty eight metres from Blues’ try line and a quick tap and go caught the defence napping with the hosts’ centre ghosting through a retreating defence to score under the posts, converted 7-0.

With half time approaching, Chichester got a chance to ask questions of the Tottonians’ defence. Having moved the ball forward, into promising positions on two occasions, the delay in releasing the ball to the backs allowed the hosts to win the ball and clear their lines.

Chichester started the second half brightly and a scrum on halfway allowed Josh Stops to break and pass to the flying Andrews, in off his wing, who drew in the defensive cover.

An offload allowed Rhys Thompson to run through the gap, outpace a scrambling defence, and dot down under the posts, converted by MoM Gareth Davies for 7-7.

At the restart the ball was knocked on by Blues and, from the scrum, Tottonians worked the ball up the field using their forwards with a series of pick and goes before powering over the line, 12-7.

On 55 minutes an infringement on the 22m line gave Tottonians an easy penalty kick, 15-7. From the restart the hosts were immediately back in the Blues’ red zone and a scrum infringement saw a Chichester player sent to the sin bin.

While they were a player down, Blues conceded two tries as the home lead was stretched to 25-7.

An infringement provided Chichester a penalty kick and lineout eight metres out. The ball was inched towards the line with a series of pick and goes before Blues were penalised for holding on.

The referee took exception to Tottonians back chat and reversed the penalty but Chichester were unable to capitalise – before Tottonians scored their fifth try.

There were positives to be drawn, particularly the 9/10 combination.

Chicheste host Guildford on Saturday, December 2.

Bognor 36 Portsmouth 12

Hampshire Counties 1

A flooded pitch meant Bognor were forced to concede home advantage, but an early call by head coach Karl Flinn meant disruption was kept to a minimum.

The short trip along the A27 was no obstacle for the team or supporters and the Portsmouth pitch was in perfect condition, the only hazard being a strong wind which caused havoc with lineout throws.

Neither the change of venue nor the wind seemed to affect Bognor as they made amends for a poor display against New Milton to produce their best performance of the season.

They fronted up from the start and maintained the momentum for the whole 80 minutes.

The visitors began strongly and, after four minutes, they had scored their first try. No8 Josh Burgess, now over a hamstring injury, burst through several tackles to set up a good position near the opposition line.

Quick ball was used by scrum-half Jack Hornibrook and he fed the supporting Jamie Foote who crashed over near the uprights. Bradley Caparo kicked the conversion to put his side 7-0 up.

Foote soon charged through Portsmouth’s defence, leaving four would-be tacklers in his wake. The initial overlap was ignored but the ball was recycled via Chris Webb and Hornibrook, allowing Russ Watmore to crash over for Bognor’s second. Caparo added the extras with ease.

It took Portsmouth 15 minutes to enter Bognor’s 22 but their limited tactics, consisting almost exclusively of using their heavy pack in driving mauls, was countered by the much younger visiting forwards, allowing their half-backs to clear.

An intelligent kick and good follow-up by Hornibrook forced Portsmouth’s full-back to carry the ball over his own line. From the attacking scrum Burgess fed back-row partner Foote and the big flanker reappeared three phases later to crash over for Bognor’s third. Caparo continued his immaculate display of kicking.

A few minutes later Bognor were halted in their tracks by a serious knee injury to full-back Dan Robinson. Play was halted for a lengthy period before Robinson was stretchered off and taken to hospital.

He was replaced by veteran Josh Riggall, who fitted seamlessly into the centre, but Robinson’s injury meant Bognor’s momentum was temporarily halted and Portsmouth took advantage to score a try in the corner.

Half-time saw visitors 21-5 ahead but, with Bognor facing the strong wind in the second half, the result was not foregone.

But some powerful driving play allowed Foote to clinch his hat trick and a bonus point for his team.

Portsmouth responded with a driving try before Bognor, from a penalty, moved it wide to Tyrone Makasi who left two defenders for dead and fly over in the left-hand corner. Late on, the outstanding Matt Norrell crossing for his team’s sixth and final try.

Bognor host Andover this Saturday (2.30pm).