promising mariners 2nds sunk at portsmouth
Portsmouth IV 34 – 19 Lymington Mariners II
After another trip down the M27 Lymington were unfortunate to come away with a defeat against a side who ultimately were more experienced all round and in particular better drilled up front.
Mariners started promisingly tackling well and defending solidly with the majority of the first fifteen minutes spent in their own 22 but Portsmouth scored first with a ball that was actually knocked on rather than placed over the line.
With a side still not used to playing together and with varying amounts of experience ranging from our excellent veteran no8 Andy O’Callaghan and man mountain Rob Chatley to players coming out of ten years plus retirement, a well drilled and conditioned team such as Portsmouth were always going to be a tricky opposition. Still there were flashes of brilliance, young scrum half Max Williams having an excellent game making some decisive breaks and showing real flair. One such break cut through the Portsmouth backs and led to Ben Mansbridge being gifted a relatively simple run in try. Another touch of class came from the dependable and talented Craig Esterhuizen with a springbok esque dart from full back that made the opposition look second rate with dummies being bought and sold quicker than even the FTSE could keep up with! Lymington’s third came from a well worked forward move resulting in Rob Chatley steaming through the lines from close range to get his name on the score sheet, as did Brian Hill who converted 2 from 3 conversions before succumbing to an ankle knock late in the game.
For a good portion of the middle of the game Lymington had the upper hand but they conceded too often and with 8 minutes to go they were 29-19 down and had the majority of their experienced players either out of position or injured on the sidelines. They conceded one last try and by the time the referee blew his final whistle the scoreboard, had there been one, would have shown 34-19.
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