Petersfield 19 Chineham 42: WHEN Petersfield met Chineham in a warm-up friendly back in August the home side dominated to finish with an impressive 47-5 victory.

Saturday’s game was very similar, except that this time it was the home side that were on the end of a heavy defeat.

Coach Andy Patience’s revolving door of available players resulted in yet another 15-man permutation from the senior squad and, once again, the gulf between the side and the obviously settled visitors was plain to see.

Field started very brightly with a try and conversion from Jameson after just one minute. Field had rampaged up the pitch from the kick-off, with quick hands and close support leaving the Chineham defence scrambling. Two minutes later and the home side looked as though they were on for a further score; the breakout down the right wing thwarted when the winger was cynically tackled having grubbered the ball in behind the last line of defence. The resultant penalty was missed and Chineham regrouped, regathered their thoughts and went on the offensive.

By the end of the first quarter, Chineham, had effectively won the match with three unanswered tries before completing certain victory with a further - bonus point - try and a penalty before half time.

Five minutes into the second half, Chineham were on the board again with another converted try and it looked as though the miseries of the first half were to be repeated. However, Field remained dogged in their efforts and managed to stalemate the guests until the end of the third quarter – Alex Patience catching the eye for the home side appearing to be all over the pitch working tirelessly in defence. Field finished strongly in the final quarter, scoring 12 points to Chineham’s ten, with tries from Haslett and Wilks, Jameson adding the conversion.

To add injury to insult, coach Patience’s selections for next week appear at this stage to have been made more difficult by the withdrawal of at least three players from the match due to heavy knocks. Patience will be grateful to have next week off to gather his troops ahead of their next match; a tricky away fixture at Bognor.