Nothing artificial about Romsey RFC progress

The recent wet weather has taken its toll on sports fixtures in the county, but Romsey RFC’s players have enjoyed the advantage of being able to play on Ganger Farm’s superb 4G surface. The Junior section, from U5’s up, enjoyed their rugby under blue skies and went home with clean kit! 

The Blue and Golds of the Senior squad cemented in their position in the top 5 of the league with a sparkling display of attacking rugby against Portsmouth. Romsey took full advantage of playing on the 4G surface. It produced a game that was played at a fast pace, and the crowd fully enjoyed the thirteen tries scored on the day. 

Romsey scored eight of the tries, showing attacking intent throughout. Half backs Dan Penn-Newman and Jim Lamont were quick to spot the gaps in the Portsmouth defence, and ran the game from start to finish. The opening score for winger Ed Bethel was skilfully constructed and ruthlessly finished. Coach Dave Grosse was purring with satisfaction as further tries by Brad Piper, Dylan Scott and Jim Lamont saw his side race into a 22-0 lead. Portsmouth hit back with a quickly taken tap penalty on one of their rare forays into the Romsey half. A bulldozing score by winger Ollie Soundy re emphasised the home team’s superiority. With the game all but lost before half time, it is to Portsmouth’s credit that they managed to throw caution to the winds to score two more tries before the interval. 

Romsey’s healthy fourteen point lead was further improved by tries by prop Mike Streicher and captain Caine Latham. Again, Portsmouth responded with some spirit to grab a bonus point score before the end. The final score was 48-25 to Latham’s side. It was a breathless, hugely entertaining game to watch. Romsey will be hoping for a good crowd for their next home fixture against Christchurch on March 16th. With that day being the Six Nations “Super Saturday” the club bar expects to be busy!