TEDDINGTON 43, PETERSFIELD 10

PETERSFIELD’S first season back in London 3 South-West ended with defeat in a hard-fought, occasionally testy, match at mid-table Teddington.

The home leg of the fixture back in September resulted in a 25-13 victory for newly-promoted Field and the omens looked good.

Since then, however, selection issues have hampered Petersfield’s team cohesion and although they have comfortably avoided the bottom two, finishing ninth out of 12, they have won only seven of their 22 matches.

Head coach James Alder has had to call on 41 players from all levels of the senior section to ensure that his side could fulfil their fixtures. Even so, Field have always tried to play positive rugby and this game was no exception, both teams taking advantage of the improved conditions to run the ball.

Teddington caught the visitors out from the back of splinter-drive maul to take the lead, but Petersfield fought back and worked hard to establish a strong attacking position in the home 22, only to lose the ball and allow their opponents to clear their lines.

Clearly on top, the hosts crossed the whitewash twice to open a healthy lead.

But Field have failed to score in only one of their matches this season and the obdurate Reds set up a terrific try of their own, wing Will Jameson collecting a superb cross-field kick to score in the corner.

Trailing 5-19 at the break, Petersfield were still the game, but the second half slowly went away from them as Teddington punished errors in loose play.

Each time Field made good field position, they would invariably lose the ball and be forced into scrambled defence. And things weren’t helped by a growing roll-call of injuries.

As the last quarter began, it became 14-a-side after some handbags stuff. The Reds fared worse during this period and Teddington scored more tries to pull well clear.

Lock Ryan Morse was on hand to finish off a good break by both backs and forwards, but the final word went to the hosts as they crossed for yet another try.

“The season has been a great learning experience for us,” said coach Alder. “While we have done enough to secure our league status, we know we will need to work hard on both individual and collective skills to ensure we can be more competitive at this level.”

He paid tribute to three players who won’t be pulling on the red jersey next season. “Toby Sydenham, Michael Robbins and Will Jameson will be much missed. All have shown great commitment, both on and off the pitch, travelling down from London for training and matches.”

Still to come is Petersfield RFC’s ever-popular Pub Sevens on Sunday, May 6.