Romsey Rugby 1st XV coach John Lee chose a strong side to take on Portsmouth’s United Services. An experienced front row was picked, with props Adam Coe and Phil Cunningham on either side of hooker Ben Hewitt.

Taking up the engine room slots were Tristan Pattison and Sam Dawson. Back row was Gerry Francis, and Matt ‘Sparky’ Sparks on the flanks. Captain Graham Lusty took the number 8 shirt.

Dan Penn-Newman and Rob Heighway continued their half-back relationship, with Heighway returning from injury. Alex Lee and Sam Arthur gave physicality and extra options in the centres.

A back three of Jim Lamont, debutant Henry Ashton and Rob Stent provided a sturdy piece when defending and intelligent running lines when attacking.

On the bench for the day, were Jordan Carter, Will Riches, and first team debutant James Holgate.

In a rather auspicious start, USP opened scoring within the opening five minutes. Straight from the restart, Romsey were penned in their own half. The visitors broke out, but were turned over, and USP swiftly turned defence into attack, pushing their way slowly but steadily through Romsey territory to edge closer and closer for the second score of the day.

After going back and forth with physical play, Romsey broke through USP’s impressive defence thanks to the inspired running of right winger Henry Ashton.

But after some lateral movement inside the host’s half. Romsey lost the ball and in a quick series of moves USP forced their way down to Romsey’s 5m. Romsey defended hard again but USP went over to make it 19-0.

Just before the half, Romsey went over for their only score of the game. With some great hands and back work the ball was pushed deep into USP’s half of the field. The forwards took over and Adam Coe came up with the score as the pack walked a maul over the line.

The second half was emphatically Portsmouth’s. Romsey lost some players due to injury, which lead to a massive advantage for USP, who punched holes where previously they had been re-buffed. Romsey showed they could play with sharp running and physical tackling but it was not clinical enough and showed how far Romsey needed to progress.

United Services ran out deserved winners with a score of 65-7. While the scoreboard told only part of the story, Romsey played well given they had players drop out at the last minute. Romsey did show creativity when attacking but at times looked to be grasping at straws with attacking options. Romsey’s next game is at home against Millbrook on October 11.

The 2nd XV have a home game against Trojans 3rd XV tomorrow. Kick-off is at 3pm.