Petersfield 0 Old Cranleighans 32: WITH players dropping like flies up to the morning of the match, coach James Alder had his work cut out selecting a squad for the fixture.

Lymington Mariners had cried off from their match against Field’s second team, so the patched-up squad took to the pitch with three debutants and two veteran players to take on top of the table Old Cranleighans.

When the sides last met back in October the Surrey side put eight tries past a much stronger Field side, for the loss of just one.

With Field so depleted there were fears that the home side would succumb to an even worse shellacking.

However, Field restricted their guests to six tries – three in each half – and made them work hard to get those scores. All bar one of the tries were scored out wide, which made the conversions more difficult, and that reduced the visitors’ points haul.

Field were overpowered in the scrum but, this aside, the other facets of their game worked well in spite of the new partnerships throughout the team. Rather than adopt a conservative approach and hope to deny their opposition possession, the home side continued to try to play their style of positive front-foot rugby and the pack provided ball for the backs to hunt for gaps.

While Field had their share of possession and territory the visitors’ defence was always too good, slowing the release of the ball at the breakdown and snuffing out attacks even when down to 14 players in the second half.