After a tight home encounter at Penn’s Place, it seemed Petersfield 2’s would fancy their chances, in the short 10-mile trip down the road to Havant. After a strong start to the season the field second string had, had mixed fortunes, but on their day are as strong as any other.
Covid, isolation and positive cases at Havant meant that changes were needed throughout the week as seven first and second team regulars were struck down and as ever, when players move up its generally the AXV that feels the pinch. So, captain Pete living cast his net among the abundance of quality still at his disposal and drafted in a feisty looking set of old and young warriors to take the battle to the field.
The lord Mayor Sam Wilson was back in the starting lineup and fully filling the No1 shirt after a spell of illness had sidelined him to only several cameos in recent games, The ever-available burgomaster of Hayling Island was in devastating form last week in the scrum, as his 20 minutes finale put stop to Andover’s 60 minutes of dominance. James Hewitt was also back at hooker following his unusual absence, hoping to rectify the lineout throwing that put the AXV in so much trouble away to the North Hants All blacks, the master mariner was quoted to have said “ I can do with one arm what the others failed to do with two” . Jake “Double busy” Biggs again, finding time out of his relentless schedule was able to start at tight head and completed the front row. Changes again in the second row saw Ed Gaught move to Lock and line up alongside Tim Miller, who had thankfully recovered from his shoulder injury to add more minutes to his ever-increasing rugby season. Veteran Mick Bacon continued his run at 6 and lined up with the young blood of Louis Fraser and super talented Jarod Leat in the back row.
Ben Santy again loaded the gun for Pete Living to pull the trigger as they linked up at 9 & 10 for the 5th time this season. Another of Havant’s nine mariners on show this week, Grant Morris started at inside center alongside arguably the most thought about man in housewives history Ryan ”sunny” Ray. A triple crown back three of Jock Dean Duthie, Boyo Adam Terry and true Englishman Doug Elvey completed the starting lineup. Another strong bench of finishers, in Ben Powell, Will Gibson, DJ King, Tom Merritt all collaborated with Charlie Wrights apprentice Archie Bradford. Bradford not being content with his DOD award last week, thought he would try for another. He found the need to attend a late-night Karaoke extravaganza at a Portsmouth hot spot and upload his favorite track to the matchday squad social media group at 2am.
Havant received the first kick and immediately set about taking the game to the away side. As Living’s men set about their business, there was a sense of balance to the side, that had seemed to be missing for a few games, good phase play eventually found Elvey out wide and he made good ground before cutting inside, with the back row hard on his heels to recycle the ball the first try of the game fell to Mick Bacon as he rolled the last defender on the line and touched the ball down with stretched arms to open the scoring , Santy narrowly missed the extras but it was first blood to Hav. The home side were quick off the mark again in what became a first half annihilation of the red and green machine. The away leg earlier in the season had proved to be a defensive masterclass from Peterfeild but this time out the Havant forwards were knocking holes in them like a slice of Leerdammer and with hard yards being made over the gain line by the pwerful running front men, the finely engineered Swiss clock hands of Living, Morris and Ray just picked apart the pieces. Duthie added another two to his seasons tally, Captain living showed a turn of pace to finish wide on the left as Santy switched the play, whilst Leat, Gaught , Miller and Fraser made sure old man Bacon was not the only forward on the scoresheet. Hewitt also tried to get amongst the points but an unfortunate knock on over the try line will hopefuly see the usually safe handed former captain honing his bean bag and hoop skills at rugby totts this week. A cheeky consolation try and conversion from the away side came via a well timed up and under that caught Havant knapping following a penalty, but it was all they could muster as they came to terms with the Havant masterclass.
Half Time Havant AXV 34-7 Petersfield 2’s
This time round Pete Living would kick off and start the game, Petersfield managed to slow the train slightly for the opening 10 minutes, Changes came as Powell replaced the injured Fraser, King was on for Wilson and Merritt for Duthie, but it made no difference Ray and Morris continued to rip holes into the midfield as Havant continued to hit the red wall at pace. Havant were also excellent in defense and restricted Field to limited possession. Leat was outstanding as he caused the away side no end of troubles with his powerful head up running rugby .A mid game stalemate was broken and with a combined age of 87 between them Living Broke free just inside his own half, and carried into the 22 , Bacon in support accepted the offload and took the ball to within a few meters , and with Santy catching the play , finished the counter attack in the far corner , the extras were missed again but the train was rolling onward. Gibson and Bradford were now on the field, and it was not long before they got themselves in the points and then Merritt also came close, Santy added another 2 points following Gibson try under the post and it was game over.
The officials counting was indifferent to the try scorers of Havant, as a total of 61 points were amassed, but who cares, another bonus point win and another 6 points for Havant AXV
Final score Havant AXV 56 – 7 Petersfeild 2’s