1st XV fight for win over Pompey

Portsmouth have had a very good season at home so far, not only have they not lost a game at home, but they have managed to not concede a single point. With such a record, the home side were undoubtedly full of high hopes as they entertained top of the table Imperial 1sts last Wednesday. 

The game started with the high tempo that Imperial finished with towards the end of last term, however Pompey were more than ready for the onslaught. A month and a half off over the Christmas period was clearly evident as some of the sparkle had clearly disappeared for Imperial and Portsmouth were more than ready to pounce on this window of opportunity.

Playing a very physical and forward -oriented game, Portsmouth continued the onslaught, consistently penetrating the edges of the rucks and mauls before off-loading to their large centres who tried to break the line. Some great defence by Imperial was the only thing that stopped any tries from being scored. But as already mentioned, the Christmas break was evident as small mistakes were being made all over the pitch. At times, Imperial started to run like crabs and failed to push forward, which resulted in some shoddy passing and poor attacking decisions. Even the line-outs, which had been a strong point, were suffering. Portsmouth eventually got a penalty within kicking distance and made Imperial pay by taking a slender 3 - 0 lead.

It was Imperial’s counter-attacking that was the most impressive, with the greatest play coming from Max Joachim and Edward Spofforth-Jones on the wing. Imperial managed to gain 40 metres with superb interplay between Joachim and the captain Andrew Jasudasen, before the Portsmouth second row decided to put in a late high tackle on centre Dan Godfrey and rightly earned himself 10 minutes in the sin-bin. Even with this advantage, Imperial were unable to optimise and were trailing 3 - 0 by half time.

After some stern words from the captain and the coach, Imperial went into the second half determined to turn the deficit. With a more structured attack now showing, Imperial slowly made their way towards the Pompey try line, however persistent high tackles and hands in rucks broke the play and Imperial were eventually awarded with a penalty in front of the posts that hooker Alexander Johnstone comfortably converted. 

Portsmouth, having conceded their first points at home this season, and also having their sin-binned player returned to them, picked up the aggression in a more controlled manor. The Pompey forwards increased the pick and drive around the edges of the rucks, but the Imperial forwards were more than ready for them and only gave away inches at a time. When this failed, they tried a catch and drive from the line-outs, which the forwards were again able to contain. Eventually, Imperial were awarded another penalty that Johnstone converted and Imperial were finally in the lead, a lead that was heavily defended until the dying seconds, with Rob Phillips even receiving a yellow card in the last minute for his efforts.

A groggy start to the new term for Imperial, but there are signs of great things to come, and this will hopefully improve for next weeks game against RUMS.

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