An uphill fight a fine start

Lewes got off to a great start as a combination of quickly-taken tap penalties saw them drive Portsmouth inside their own 22-metre line. This initial pressure paid off after five minutes when Lewes were awarded a penalty for handling from 18 metres out. Full-back Neil Rumble kicked it to open the score at 3-0. Portsmouth's No.8 Darren Crabb then drove over for a try, converted by Neil Styles for 7-3. On 20 minutes Lewes narrowed the gap to 7-6 with a well-taken penalty from Rumble 20 metres out and four minutes later regained the lead when, winning good ball from a ruck, fly-half Dave Tyrrell cleverly dummied through the visitor's defence for a fine try. Rumble converted for 13-7. A few minutes later Portsmouth's hooker, Martin Pearse touched down near the posts for a try, converted by Styles for 14-13. Lewes responded with a fine push upfield themselves, forcing Portsmouth to concede a penalty for offside, which Rumble slotted over for 16-14. Near half-time Portsmouth took advantage of an error by Lewes in front of their own posts, resulting in a penalty which Styles kicked for 17-16. After the break Lewes substituted prop-forward Jason Lundin for Ryan Hawkes in an attempt to counter the weight advantage of Portsmouth's pack, but this proved of little avail as the Hampshire side soon put Lewes on the back foot. After a scrum seven metres out Crabb picked up the ball and embarked on a rolling maul which ended with Pearse scoring his second try of the match to stretch the lead to 22-16. On the hour Lewes conceded a penalty for coming through from an offside position and the consistent Styles kick it for 25-16. Even the sin-binning of Portsmouth's No.4 Ian Thatcher for persistent offside and the return of skipper Dave Hemsley after a month's injury lay-off did not improve matters for Lewes. On 66 minutes they lost possession at a line-out from 35 metres out, the ball being fed out to the Portsmouth fly-half Stuart McLaughlan, who darted down the blind side for an opportunist try in the corner to see his team pull away at 30-16. Two minutes later a fine inter-passing move by the visitors ended with centre Simon Lloyd running through Lewes's defence for 35-16. Lewes: Lacy, Gray (Hemsley), Hawkes (Lundin), Brant (capt), Raikes, Rust, B.Sole, Giles, M Sole, Tyrrell, Jones, Saunders, Barnard, Patto (Dennien), Rumble. Lewes have a day off from league duties tomorrow, with the next match on Saturday, October 22, when Old Mid-Whitgiftians are the visitors, 3pm.