Petersfield 18 Alton 12

 

It was nip and tuck as to whether the game should actually be played at all on Saturday. Both teams were there and wanting to play, whilst the coaches and referee Gary Self looked long and hard at the cold, dead pitches. With less than an hour to kick-off, all agreed to move the match to pitch two, PRFC fitness coach Scott Heffield proved his mettle by getting the pitch marked and by 2.15 p.m, over two hundred people from both towns were on hand to watch a cracking advert for Hampshire Rugby.

Happily, the Petersfield faithful had the benefit of a curry lunch before hand, but with an almost Arctic cold gripping Penns Place, it is a credit to the young men involved and to referee Self, for keeping them moving, that they provided as good game as one might see anywhere this season.

Do not write off Petersfield for the Hampshire One title just yet. Field inflicted a first league defeat on league-leaders Alton and now trail their fierce local rivals by just two points after an endlessly fascinating game at a packed Penns Place. 

With nine games remaining, there is still an awful lot of rugby to be played and plenty of banana-skins for both teams to negotiate if they are to move back into the London leagues. But if those 720 minutes are anywhere near as good as these eighty on Saturday, supporters of both clubs should consider themselves spoilt.

It was a wonderful match. Twice as fast as the usual Hampshire One stodge; frenetic, error-strewn and occasionally a little fruity, but for all the visceral passion that arises from local rivalry, played in a good spirit. The skill levels weren't bad either. If the players and coaches gave it their all, so did the 200-strong crowd that manned the touchlines: there was banter, plenty of advice for referee Gary Self and even some nastier verbals, but this was rugby at its most raucous, rawest best.

Occasions like these merely confirm that the true spirit of rugby lies not in a corporate hospitality box at the soulless morgue that is Twickenham, but at grass-roots clubs like Petersfield and Alton. England trained for weeks and produced rubbish in the autumn internationals yet these two groups of amateurs produced an epic, despite having minimal preparation time due to the bad weather and the Christmas break. Go figure.

For 'Field, centre Andy Barnes was the man: he may not have been able to hit a barn door with his place-kicking but such is his rugby skill-set that not only did he score two tries and set up a third, but he was at the hub of everything, defence and attack. Wing George Saunders, lock Alex Dark and open-side Gareth Nicholls all warrant baptism of fire. The 'Field forward eight rallied splendidly in the second half, just as it seemed Alton might overwhelm them. Alton have a ferocious pack but behind the scrum there was little to compete with Petersfield, other than trying to block and bar the progress of Flett, Martin and Barnes by furious and determined tackling.

For Alton, giant lock Will Ford, Chris Cox and Adam Baker were lions in a pretty decent scrum, while centre Ed Good was the visitors' most creative force. But Baker's 48^th minute withdrawal hurt Alton particularly badly - with his departure went Alton's undeniable forward superiority. 'Field probably won because they wanted it more and for all the passion and raw emotion on show, they kept their heads - and the ball - better. 

By contrast Alton were off-colour and a little off the pace and though they showed well when they had the ball in the forwards, they always struggled for possession, especially in the second half. The penalty count of 16-10 against, accumulated mostly at the breakdowns, also tells a story. Afterwards, one key visiting forward was heard to say that they simply hadn’t turned up. “We came to Penns Place with the game in the bag, we thought, it was only Petersfield at home.” How wrong they were.

But how 'Field had to work for victory, despite enjoying copious amounts of territory and possession and all but monopolising both in the second period. Alton simply refused to buckle and right up to the final whistle there was half a suspicion that they would pull a rabbit out of a hat. But they could not, denied by a totally committed Petersfield team that perhaps is starting to realise it’s true potential.

The visitors opened the scoring after seven minutes, Baker stretching over from a rolling maul and Hubbard converting for a 7-0 lead. However, 'Field were the livelier side. Barnes missed with a penalty shot, but his side were on the scoreboard in the 16th minute when Saunders angled run from Flett's inside pass broke the Alton defensive line and took him into the twenty two. Barnes and Ben Martin then combined to allow fullback Nick Lewis to squeeze over in the corner.

Barnes himself added 'Field's second try ten minutes later, exploiting an overlap in the right-hand corner after a patient build-up and several punishing phases had sucked in most of Alton's defensive cover.

But back came Alton and they laid siege to the 'Field line for the final ten minutes of the half. Good, Winston Carter and Jimmy Gay all went close, but it was that man Baker who touched down after 'Field buckled at an Alton five-metre scrum.

Obviously this was always going to be a tight competitive game and if it was not technically brilliant, the intensity made up for that. The Petersfield forwards competed well and set platform for win, all played well special mention of Jason Brooks on first start. However, the home backs always looked like they could get the tries to win the game, the defining moment coming just before half time when Alton, 12-10 ahead, looked to get third try from line out catch and rolling maul. Petersfield, who might have sagged under the onslaught three months ago, defended really well, and held out until half time.

This led to a real belief at half time that 'Field could go on to win the game. Coach Barnes simply said to his men “Keep them out of our twenty-two and we’re going to be there.” Which is precisely what ‘Field did and no amount of carping from visiting coaches will change the fact that Alton could not break the strangle hold the home team clamped on the game, nor the fact that with a high-quality ‘level seven’ referee, all the old tricks in the ruck and maul were going to cost them dear.

With the Alton scrum threatening to over-run 'Field and 'Field's line-out malfunctioning, the league-leaders seemed to have a definite edge, but the second half could not have turned out more differently. It was one-way traffic - 'Field were all over Alton like a rash.

Flett restored 'Field's lead with a 52-minute penalty and as the home pressure mounted it became only a matter of was there enough time for Petersfield to quell an obdurate Alton, whose defence was excellent bordering on mendacious. Eventually, the decisive breakthrough came with six minutes left on the clock when a quick tap caught Alton short of numbers on their left flank and Dark's pass allowed Barnes to hold off the covering defence and squeeze over in the right-hand corner.

Alton refused to fold and in desperation, knowing only converted try would do, were being forced to run from deep in their own half. Petersfield were again stopped on the visitor’s goal-line and Alton tried to run the ball from under the posts and release flying wing Taryke van Rensburg sixty meters from the 'Field tryline. But that was always going to be too far, for the Petersfield defence on the day was outstanding. Van Rensburg might have thought he could make it, but reckoned without Flett coming out of nowhere to ankle-tap him and so snuff out the attack. And that was that. 

The final whistle was greeted with as much satisfaction for Petersfield as joy. 'Field had not only got one over their local rivals, but they had resurrected their hopes of claiming the sole automatic promotion slot. For Alton, it is a setback but they still hold the nap hand - six of their nine remaining league games are at Anstey Park, after all. But for the neutral, one only hopes these two sides meet again next year.

Coach Barnes was, well, if not jubilant, very satisfied with his lads producing such a good result. “We’d been worried about losing four players to 'flu in the week before the game,” he said “but depth of squad is starting to show showed through, with the special bonus of the performance of Jason Brooks. Alton are a good team, capable and organised as ever, but we stood up to them well in the forwards and that enabled our backs to get the crucial scores.”

Perhaps last word should go to that honest man Jim Gay, Alton captain and former Petersfield Colt, who sportingly, if circumspectly admitted that on the day the best team won, adding “It was a great game to play yesterday and by all the God, do I hurt now!” A fair sentiment from a fair man and one would imagine felt by all who played in a super game.

Petersfield: Lewis; Saunders, Barnes, Martin, Dunglinson; Flett, Butcher; Luff, Ball, Williams; Brookes (Todd, 63), Dark; Crane, Nicholls (Eldridge, 76), Palmer (c). 

Tries: Lewis (17), Barnes (26, 74);

Penalty: Flett (52).

Alton: Law; O'Connor, Hemmens, Good, van Rensburg; Hubbard, Pead; Osborne, Parratt, Gay (c); Ford, Greenhalgh; Cox, Carter, Baker (Flanagan, 48).

Tries: Baker (8, 36);

Conversion: Hubbard.

 

 

Many thanks to David Garvey, Petersfield Post for the picture.