AFTER last week’s local derby win at Alton, heavy rain didn’t dampen the fire of Petersfield’s first XV on Saturday.

Once again playing away, they torched the hopes of a home win for Old Georgians at Addlestone in Surrey just south of the Thames.

Field were the first to score, a penalty, and stayed in front until the final whistle, despite torrential rain and wind, the 27-14 win moving them up to fifth place in the London South West 3 table.

The conditions were not ideal for the backs of both teams to be influential for much of the first half, but the home side started brightly, taking the game to Petersfield who spent most of the first 20 minutes defending.

But like the previous week, Field’s defence was resolute, tempting Georgians into unforced errors.

Petersfield were playing into the wind and rain and relied on their pack to make the hard yards, and for the second week the ensuing scrums showed Field’s dominance at the set piece, allowing the visitors to advance and test the home side’s defence

Finally the visitors were awarded a penalty, successfully put between the uprights.

As half-time approached, Field again benefited from a Georgians transgression and a clean lineout take and a textbook rolling maul resulted in a converted try.

A galvanised Georgians obviously wanted to redress the imbalance and responded with a converted try just before half- time, the score at 10-7 in Field’s favour.

As the teams took a well-earned breather from what was a frantic half, the rain fell vertically and the wind dropped and any hopes for a second-half advantage from the conditions was denied Petersfield.

Ten minutes into the half Field were awarded a penalty, bringing the score 13-7 in their favour.

Then Field’s superior fitness saw them run in a second converted try against a retreating Georgians.

But injuries and tactical replacements disrupted the continuity of Petersfield’s defence for a spell.

This, at 25 minutes into the half, allowed Georgians to advance their score with a well-taken converted try, making the score 20-14.

Field were quick to retaliate, though, and scored under the home side’s posts to make the conversion routine.

Several attempts to secure a fourth and bonus-point try were unsuccessful because of dogged defence by Georgians and Field’s own errors trying to force the pace, leaving the final score 27-14.

With a fallow week to follow the four coaching sessions leading into the next match, Field will be looking to build on their progress to date when they travel to Rugby Camp and face another local derby, this time against Portsmouth, who are currently ninth in the league and without a win so far this season.