Havant were well-beaten by a side near the top of the league who were clearly motivated by their loss last week against Westcombe Park. Barnes are a well-drilled team whose play is based on a good close passing game that keeps the ball alive and makes sure that players make those passes before they get isolated. They had two quality wingers who almost always cut back inside (unless they were scoring) and made ground before moving the ball on. Havant for their part will rue failing to touch the ball down on two occasions which, in the first case, would have made the score 19-14 with the side playing well. On the second occasion, very close to the end of the match, it would have secured a try bonus.

Havant made two changes to the team that drew so admirably against Guernsey last Saturday with Dylan Evans replacing Sam Trodd and Harrison Young, now fully fit, returning to the team in place of Craig Durnin.

On a very grey but mild day, Barnes kicked off and Harrison Young immediately got into the action, taking the ball and feeding Jack Colbourne who went on an aggressive run, taking him into the Barnes half. A knock-on at the ruck gave Barnes the scrum from which they extracted a penalty. From the subsequent lineout (with the penalty kicked to touch), Havant won the ball on the opposition throw and secured a scrum. Trying to run the ball out, a poor pass immediately handed the ball back and after a few phases of play, Paul O’Dell, the Barnes centre ran over on the left and touched the ball down under the posts, giving Harvey Graham an easy conversion. 7-0 to Barnes.

Play continued in the middle of the field until Barnes started to challenge the Havant defence with good handling and direct running, a feature of their game throughout. On 12’ Barnes scored again, after good pressure, through left wing Oliver Walker, on the left-hand touchline with the conversion missed.

Havant finally secured good ball after a good high-ball ‘take’ from Dylan Evans, under real pressure. Havant found some space through the middle and from inside the Barnes half secured a penalty which Reuben Knight kicked to the 5-metre line. From the lineout Havant made good ground and got the ball over the line through Cam Boa but he was deemed to have been held up. From the dropout, Havant took the ball up from which they earned a penalty. Ben Holt tapped and made a good break and Jack Colbourne got the ball over the line to the right of the posts. Joel Knight converted to make it 14-7 on 18’. Freddie Ferson came on for Angus Southon who had a leg problem, possibly a repeat of his earlier season injury.

Havant do tend to concede quite quickly after scoring and did so once more when right wing Matthew Banfield made a good break, cutting back inside and then through the middle, to feed scrum-half Iago Davies who scored under the posts with Harvey Graham’s conversion an inevitability. The Barnes wings would cause problems all afternoon. Havant came straight back with good handling and Will Perry making lots of ground to get to the home side’s ‘22’. Archie Cleeve broke clear and seemed to be impeded close to the line and a yellow card was given to the Barnes hooker Adam Musa. Some felt a penalty try could have been awarded but it did feel ‘marginal.’

The ensuing penalty was kicked to the five-metre line, but the lineout was lost and Barnes escaped up to half-way. This really felt like an opportunity lost with Barnes down to fourteen men. Banfield again made a break for Barnes and won a penalty for them which was kicked to touch close to Havant’s ‘22’. Havant defended well and won a penalty and for now got away from their own line. Barnes came back and won another penalty which again was kicked to touch. This time Dylan Read secured a misdirected Barnes throw and again Havant got some breathing space. Not for long however, as another penalty kick went to the same corner. Havant were defending well and were rewarded when the Barnes loose-head knocked-on two metres from the line.

While Barnes were playing a canny handling game with only fourteen players, they were making mistakes and keeping Havant in the game. Havant made it to halfway with a mini-break from Reuben Knight. Adam Musa came back on for Barnes and they felt energised as a side, but it was a good individual piece of play from the wing Matthew Banfield, beating several players, that gave him the score under the posts, rather than a team try. The try was converted making it 26-7 on 38’.

Havant came straight back from the kick-off (with Nick Stoffel replacing Jez Smith at prop), moving the ball right, and it was a great line from Dylan Evans, beating several players, that gave his side a precious score, converted by Joel Knight, to make it 26-14 at half-time. It felt like Havant had given themselves a chance. This was a good score from the wing and it feels like there is a good player in there, waiting to come out. Confidence is everything.

Havant kicked off and the home side’s left wing, Oliver Walker went on a good run through to the ‘22’, Will Perry rescuing the situation for Havant and enabling his side to kick the ball away from immediate danger. Barnes were now really threatening and their continuity was impressive.

The match had an extra bit of needle now, and it showed in a spat between Ben Holt and his opposite number Iago Davies. What should have been a quick talking-to and ‘let’s get on with the game’ ended up in a three-minute break as the referee bought in captains and culprits to discuss it further. Two yellow cards and a Barnes penalty were the result. Exchanging words with two Barnes players during the break, they also felt the whole thing had been overblown. The penalty was not good news for Havant. The lineout from the penalty gave the hosts the ball and replacement prop Ford Ayodele crashed over after a few forward ‘sorties’, with Graham converting, to make it 33-14 on 45’.

With Ben Holt off, a scrum half was needed and Wes Dugan replaced him and he stayed on after Ben Holt’s return a few minutes later to take over from Archie Cleeve. Cam Boa was swapped for Sean Shepherd.

33-14 became 40-14 soon after. A good kick-off wasn’t properly contested by Havant and Barnes kicked the ball through to Havant’s half where the ball was dropped. Wing Walker made another good run and a score felt inevitable. On 47’ Barnes got over the line, the scorer unknown (unseen by me and not credited on the England Rugby website/GMS). The score was converted once more by Graham to make it 40-14.

There was a danger at this point that Barnes might pull away but they did not score again during the final 30 minutes of the match. Perhaps they took their foot off a bit, but Havant improved, particularly in defence and also gained a degree of scrum dominance.

Learning from Barnes, Havant started to build their attack through better continuity and it led, on 61’, to a good try on the left for Sean Shepherd. The conversion was missed. Jez Smith returned for Nick Stoffel. The game was mostly played in the middle of the field for the next few minutes. Both sides turned over possession, and it was now a question of whether Havant could secure the try bonus. A free-kick to the visitors was kicked to touch and but Havant won the Barnes throw-in at the lineout before being penalised. Barnes continued to threaten, as did Havant, but it felt that we were waiting for that final surge to arrive and with it, the bonus point.

On 66’ Barnes were attacking after a midfield turnover and Dylan Read was given a ten-minute rest after a technical office (possibly playing the ball on the ground). Barnes kicked to touch to give themselves a 5m lineout, but Havant were able to stop the attacking side’s rolling maul and eventually got away from their line thanks to a penalty awarded at the ruck.

On 68’ Reuben Knight went off, with Jacob Knight moving into fly-half and Tom Gwyther coming on in the centre. On 70’ a good midfield break from Joel Knight came to nothing after a back of the hand pass went to ground. Barnes were able to escape. Several Havant penalties and a Ben Holt mini-break gave Havant field position but no Havant score.

As the minutes rolled on (it was hard to tell how many were left after injuries and the yellow card ‘chat’), Dylan Read returned to get Havant back to fifteen with time running out. Havant were still defending and were having to because the team were turning over the ball with regularity. Dylan Read won Havant a crucial penalty from which the team were able to create the position for the final push.

From the lineout after the penalty, Havant got a good rolling maul going and with penalty advantage, were able to take chances. From the penalty kick Jacob Knight got the side to within seven metres. The ensuing rolling maul got the forwards over the line, but the ball was adjudged to be held up. Havant were awarded another penalty, again kicked to touch, but in reality, Barnes were protecting their line well and thwarted the Havant surge with the game ending after Barnes were awarded the scrum close to the posts. No try bonus for Havant.

For all the disappointment Barnes are second in the league for a reason and Havant cannot be accused in any way, of not putting in a fully committed effort, even if mistakes and a lack of accuracy were features at times. Barnes defended very well when they needed to, particularly late on. We did struggle with the referee’s interpretation of the breakdown laws (although we have experienced this before in previous matches with him) and we did kick a bit too much when shouldn’t have in attack and run too much when we were around our own ‘22’, when a kick was needed. (Doug Miller)