UGRFC XV v PORTSMOUTH XV

UGRFC welcomed Portsmouth on Wednesday afternoon in another BUCS league cup fixture. Gloucestershire proved that if they do get promoted at the end of the season that they are more than capable of competing in the league above as they narrowly lost to Portsmouth who sit fifth in their league, 22-24.

UGRFC opened the scoring after Portsmouth were penalised at the breakdown, they took the lineout carried the ball over the line with driving maul through lock, Ben Sainsbury. The conversion was wide giving UGRFC a five-point cushion.

Portsmouth took the opportunity to take the points when a penalty came their way, however, with the kick just short of the posts they had to wait until they scored their first try for any points. They scored their first when they ran in from just outside the half-way line as the Gloucestershire boys failed to keep up with the pace of the Portsmouth backs. The successful conversion put the score 5-7.

A late first-half try from UGRFC’s number 8, Adam Hopkinson closed the scoring for the first half after he went over the whitewash following a driving maul from the lineout. The successful conversion took UGRFC back into the lead 12-7.

Portsmouth opened the second half with seven points following penalty close to Gloucestershire’s line. UGRFC replied soon when prop Daiki Saito broke the Portsmouth defence before offloading to the backs as the ball went out wide for another Gloucestershire try. The conversion was missed which took the score to 17-14. The scores went level when Portsmouth chose to take the points following Gloucestershire conceding another penalty in close range to the posts. The successful kick to the score to 17 all.

UGRFC dipped in performance for the next ten minutes and Portsmouth took advantage of the tiring Gloucestershire players and scored their third try of the afternoon and with another successful conversion, it took the visitors seven points ahead.

After repeated infringements Portsmouth went down to fourteen men for ten minutes, however, UGRFC failed to take advantage of the one-man advantage and didn’t score any points from the sin-binning period.

Portsmouth missed an opportunity to extend their lead when a penalty kick went wide of the posts. Portsmouth saw their second yellow card of the match after more infringements and went down to 14 men again.

UGRFC showed more momentum in the final closes of play to push for the win and scored a try off the back of a scrum. But it wasn’t enough to secure the win even with the successful conversion as the final score read 22-24.