COUNTIES 3 HANTS
                                          VENTNOR 53, PORTSMOUTH II 17
AFTER taking a hammering the week before, Ventnor responded in the best way possible — by dishing one out themselves!

Portsmouth II were the unfortunate whipping boys when they came to Watcombe Bottom on Saturday.

There was a minute’s silence observed by both teams before kick-off.

With excellent numbers and spirit at training last week, this game was an opportunity to make amends and put into practice many of the lessons from the training pitch. 

The message to players was to keep possession well, take scoring opportunities in the opposition 22, and all underpinned with patience.

It was all very much in evidence in their performance. 

Their first foray into the Portsmouth 22 saw Tom Crews notch up the first score, from a penalty.

The front five of Collett, Jones, Savill, Teague and Walton were solid in the tight, allowing the back row of busy Morton, Wheeler and Bell, plenty of opportunities in the loose. 

A five metre scrum gave Dan Bell the first of his two tries — a pick-and-go from the base of the scrum, with Crews adding the extras, 10-0.

Portsmouth hit back with an unconverted try, but Ventnor countered with a series of forward drives, resulting in Morton setting up Bell for his second try, successfully converted by Crews, 17-5.

A head injury to a Portsmouth player led to uncontested scrums, but the static platform still allowed half backs Malkin and Riches to create opportunities for the three-quarter line of Crews, Lines, Finan and Blake, with Dan Greaves linking effectively from full back. 

Lines had a direct influence in the next three Ventnor tries.

His passing and footwork set up Ed Blake and Wheeler and a dummy run allowed Riches to spin the ball wide to Crews, who fed to Blake for his second try. 

During this spell, Ventnor conceded two tries to make it 36-17, but Crews added another penalty. 

Then a long kick from Riches was gathered by the chasing Greaves, who put Blake away to score his hat-trick try, again converted for 46-17. 

The final Ventnor try came after a Portsmouth penalty kick failed to find touch — fielded by Josh Braham, whose jinking run through the middle of the pitch put Crews into space to weave his way over for a try, capping off an excellent all-round performance.