PETERSFIELD 24, TROJANS 50

PETERSFIELD suffered defeat on two fronts, the teams having agreed to combine their London 3SW fixture and scheduled Gales Hampshire Bowl semi-final into a ‘double-header’ at Penns Place.

On form, Trojans were favourites to win, but ’Field more than held their own in the first half and went in at the break with a 21-17 lead.

However, at a point early in the second half, the Reds seemed to lose faith in their own ability and were punished by a five-try spree as Trojans cantered to an easy victory.

’Field had a decent share of possession and territory in the second half, but missed opportunities. They also heaped pressure on themselves by failing to clear their lines.

The tale of the first half was one of missed tackles by Petersfield and persistent infringing by the visitors. Scrambling home defenders were outnumbered and overwhelmed three times in the first half, starting inside the opening minute when Alex Williams crashed over by the posts, giving Toogi Long an easy conversion.

But the Eastleigh side’s high penalty count helped Petersfield take control. Nick Blumlein kicked the first of his three penalties and Eddie Matthews scored a try from a tap-and-go penalty.

Trojans rallied and prop Jake Poulton went over for an unconverted try. But ’Field were soon back in the opposing half and after a number of phases following a penalty lineout, Josh Haslett touched down for a try than Blumlein converted.

Number 8 Williams scored his second try for Trojans, but Blumlein’s boot kept Petersfield in front and with the visitors losing a man to the bin just before the interval, the Reds seemed in good shape for the second half.

Blumlein kicked his fourth penalty late in the third quarter, but these were to be ’Field’s only points of the second half.

Long went over in the corner after Trojans had run a penalty and converted from distance himself.

Thereafter, Trojans were rampant and a try from Jack Groves was followed by three more in the final quarter. Chris Boyd, Ben Fontaine and Groves again crossed over, with the excellent Long adding three more conversions.

Petersfield coach James Alder said: “When we had ball in hand our true potential was plain to see and we were good value for our half-time lead. “But again we are left to rue our missed chances, both in attack and defence, at the end of the game.

“With the tenth different line-up in as many games, it’s hard to build any continuity, although no-one backed down from the challenge.”

Petersfield mean to put in a lot of hard work on the training pitch before their next league fixture on December 9 when they host Old Tiffinians. Tiffinians have the same win/loss record as Petersfield, but have a much superior bonus-point tally.