BASINGSTOKE 5, PETERSFIELD 13

PETERSFIELD had to wait three weeks to attempt to halt their run of three defeats on the bounce and a trip to rock-bottom Basingstoke looked like the perfect return for a team still counting the cost of a slew of serious injuries.

Last November, ’Field cruised to a 40-0 victory in the Hampshire derby, but this was a much closer affair.

The visitors were soon camped in the Basingstoke 22. At the first scrum, ’Field ran their opponents off their own ball, while the backs were enjoying the good surface and having the wind at their backs.

After six minutes, Basingstoke gifted Nick Blumlein the simplest of penalty kicks and Petersfield looked to be on their way.

But mistakes began to creep into their play and ’Field started to chase the game as though they were heavily in arears, forcing the play when cooler heads should have prevailed.

The first half became a story of working down the field with good passing or tactical kicking, only to cough up the ball through error or transgression.

Basingstoke were profligate with many of their clearing penalty kicks and so the process would start again like a rugby-themed Groundhog Day.

So it was that the half ended with just those three points on the board and ’Field down to 14 men after Andy Barnes picked up a ‘team’ yellow card for one infringement too many.

However, Petersfield began the second half with more vigour and improved accuracy.

Halfway through the third quarter, Basingstoke also incurred the referee’s wrath and were reduced to 14. Taking the penalty as a scrum, ’Field fed the ball to Josh Haslett who evaded a despairing tackle and sped over on the right. With the wind against him, Blumlein missed the conversion.

Yet more injuries forced Petersfield to make changes and while the side was off-balance and adjusting, Basingstoke managed a sustained attack and barrelled over on the right wing to reduce the deficit to just three points.

Nerves again got the better of Petersfield and they resorted to the forced play seen in the first half. When they were good, they were very good, but when they were bad, they were awful.

In a passage of better play, with some slick passing and penetration, the Reds made it into the Basingstoke 22 and up to the line where prop Sam Brown drove over for another unconverted try.

But those errors in broken play kept Basingstoke in the game as they pushed for scores that could have ended their long run of defeats.

’Field were defending their own 22 at the final whistle, and doing it pretty well, as Basingstoke succumbed to their 18th loss in 18 matches.

“We came believing we could gain a bonus-point win, but in the event it was hard-earned,” said coach James Alder. “Basingstoke battled to a man at the end and were a credit to their coaches.

“We seemed to play under a lot of self-induced pressure, but this was our 18th different line-up in 18 matches and the club must take pride in the way its senior section rallies round to keep us in the league and competing.”