HRFU

28th January 2012   Portsmouth   Home    League   W 45 - 10

A huge day in the modern history of Trojans, undeniably the result of this match would lay down the story for the rest of the season.  Win and we would be looking positively to the next few weeks to extend ourselves out of reach of relegation, lose and we would be running out of time to get ourselves away from the bottom three.  With Portsmouth 4 points above us in the table and our local rivals the match was set up to be an important day for both clubs.

The game started with Trojans in a state of composed aggression with every job executed exactly as intended.  This pressure in the first few minutes of the match had Portsmouth rocking on their heels. It was actually a piece of poor execution from Trojans that led to the first try, Trojans knocking-on deep in the Portsmouth 22.  From the resulting scrum the Trojans pack, dominant all day, took the scrum against the head and No 8 Simon Greenhalgh muscled over from 10 metres with the try converted out wide by Troy Cusack.

Trojans continued to dominate and it wasn’t long before an angled kick from try Cusack allowed winger Chris Hamp to race on to the bouncing ball and score on the left wing again converted from a difficult position.  The pattern continued with less than 20 minutes gone a smart piece of inter-passing between forwards and backs completing a move starting from the just inside halfway had Ali McGregor providing his own interpretation of a second rows “Ash Splash” under the Portsmouth posts again converted.  The score now 21-0 at almost a point a minute and Portsmouth looked shell shocked. 

From the resulting kick off Trojans put the ball through the hands on the edge of their own 22m with centre Chris Boyd breaking from deep drawing the winger and passing  to Chris Hamp who cruised around the full back scoring under the posts sealing Trojans bonus point.  After 25 minutes barring a miracle the game was effectively in Trojans pocket. 

Portsmouth managed to respond quickly from the kick off to win a penalty deep in the Trojans 22 converting the penalty attempt.  A further score before the end of the half from a Portsmouth fumble allowed Fraser Moncrieffe onto the score sheet for Trojans, unconverted. 

At half time the score stood 33 -3 and the game was now from Trojans point of view about restricting Portsmouth from obtaining a bonus point. 

The scoring in the second half was less prolific with Trojans opting to play more cautiously and both packs tiring because of the heavy conditions.  However Trojans did continue to dominate both possession and territory.  Closing in on the 60^th minute mark Trojans stretched the Portsmouth defence one way then the other until an overlap allowed hooker Dave Strange, who had been excellent in the loose to charge in, conversion missed. 

As the game was closing Trojans had a series of scrums close to the Portsmouth line until eventually they drove over allowing Simon Greenhalgh to collect a brace from No 8, converted.  Unfortunately from a Trojans perspective the last act of scoring was a Portsmouth one who persevered to the last play of the game scoring a push over try from a lineout which they converted.   Final score Trojans 45 – Portsmouth 10

A great win against our neighbours from across the Hamble but needs to be backed up in the coming weeks to establish our security in this league for next season.

21st January 2012   Beckenham   Away    League    Won 15 - 13

The day did not start well, as the team bus pulled into Fleet services hydraulic fluid sprayed up the rear window and the first substitution of the day was required.  There was a 1 hour and 30 minute wait until a replacement coach was sent from Southampton.  We made our way as quickly as possible to Beckenham, but making the 14.15 kick off was unlikely.  Credit must be paid to Beckenham who postponed the kick-off till 14.45 and playing under lights, repaying a similar act of courtesy in our previous fixture this year. 

Due to our travelling issues we had a truncated warm –up and pre match preparation. This did not hinder Trojans start to the match as we went about the first 15 minutes with great purpose and intensity.  Trojans scrum was in the ascendancy and our backs were cutting holes through the Beckenham defence.  Beckenham conceded a penalty in front of the posts on 15 minutes and was kicked by Joby Kochanowski.  Trojans continued dominance produced a try 28 minutes when Joby Kochanowski broke through on the blindside breaking numerous tackles before cantering under the posts from 30m out, Joby converting his own effort.  Trojans dominance could not be converted into points with three clear opportunities to score further tries scuppered by poor execution.

Some sloppy play before the end of the half from Trojans granted Beckenham some good territory and after a period of sustained pressure Beckenham put together a good piece of back play allowing their right winger to wriggle his way through the defence and score. The try was converted and Half Time was whistled shortly after and both sides went in with the score at 7 – 10 in Trojans favour.

Trojans had played the first half with a wind, when the second half started the wind had become significantly stronger giving Beckenham a strong advantage.  As a result the second half was played primarily in Trojans half with the occasional foray provided from ambitious running from deep.  However too many mistakes cost Trojans dear when the Beckenham fly-half broke through the back line defence and beat the cover defence to score taking the lead with little over 10 minutes remaining. 

The strong wind was swirling around the ground and Trojans struggled to relieve pressure from their 22.  With under 1 minute remaining of the game Trojans won a penalty on their own line and choose to run the ball.  After gaining 40 meters Beckenham managed to get the ball on the ground and proceeded to close out the remaining seconds by using their forwards.  As the 80^th minute past Beckenham’s scrum half with the intention of kicking the ball directly into touch instead miscued and with the wind swirling blew the ball 40 metres towards his own posts.  This gave Trojans the opening required and managed to chase down the kick and force a penalty just outside the opposition 22.  From the penalty Trojans attacked the Beckenham line and after 3 phases Tom Stevenson was well set up by the backs to cruise in on the right wing giving a Trojans an 82^nd minute victory. 

29th October 2011   Chichester   Home    League    Lost 14 - 38

Trojans inability to win at home continues, but a generally good performance kept the score respectable and if the team could play like that against the other teams in the division then there would be some fine wins.

The game was scoreless for the first twenty minutes and this was down to Trojans' attitude and effort, the defence was good and Trojans mounted several attacks. There was one golden opportunity to score which was squandered but things were going well. Then Chichester struck with almost their first serious attack and Trojans were chasing the game from there on in. 14-7 at half time did not seem insurmountable however and Chichester looked vulnerable in some areas.

Trojans started well and kept Chichester at bay for a while but the tries came with inevitability, four more in all and only one more from the home side. Chris Boyd bagged both of them and Chris Lynch both conversions.

Coach Bridgman said "Overall we played much better, we need to take that spirit and will to win into our other games. If we do we can win enough to stay in this league. If we don't then its simple, we wont be staying! I thought Chichester were a good side but we matched them in lots of areas and I am sure they will be disappointed with the score, they were expecting fifty or sixty points.

They were far more street wise than us though and duped the referee continuously, they also scored when they had the opportunity, they didn't mess about. We have to become like that and there isn't much time.

However it's cup week next week and I know some players are unavailable so it will give some of those on the fringe a chance to impress at Basingstoke.

22nd October 2011   Dover   Away    League    Lost 15 - 27

Trojans came away from a loss without a bonus point yet again, there was one for a while but a soft score given to Dover sealed the win for them and doomed Trojans to another point-less game.

It was a much better performance than last week however, Coach Barry Bridgman said "if we had played like this last week we would have beaten Thanet, its a shame."

Trojans arrived early to get the long journey out of their legs but were not on song at all for the first twenty minutes when there were some missed tackles and aimless kicking. Dover opened the scoring on 5 minutes with a converted try after a series of missed tackles from just inside Dover's half.

They increased their lead to 14-0 after 27 minutes and the Dover crowd were expecting a rout. Trojans were not to be cannon fodder though, and on 31 Rudi Kochanowski scored a try converted by Chris Lynch, 14-7 but Dover had the last word on the half time whistle with a penalty, 19-7 .

They further increased their lead with a penalty on the second minute of the second half 22-7. But Trojans fight back was on and skipper Mark Greenhalgh scored a try on 4 minutes and Lynch kicked a penalty on 8 to make it 22-15, a bonus point was in sight and Trojans playing much the better rugby. But the scores wouldn't come and on 25 Dover scored a soft try to make it 27-15 which is how it stayed.

Bridgman said "I thought we played much better today, the lineout was better and we ran hard at them which caused them problems, but at the end we had nothing to bring home and we have to start all over again next week."

15th October 2011   Thanet Wanderers    Home    League    Lost 17 - 27

A fine sunny afternoon but no sunshine for Trojans who could have and should have won this game.  All week the talk had been of building on last weeks fine win at Portsmouth but it was not to be. There was no spark, no passion and conceding an interception try after ten minutes  proved to be a disaster. A second Thanet converted try after twenty minutes, added to the woes and it wasn't until thirty six minutes that Trojans got on the board with a penalty by Troy Cusack. 3-12 but it only lasted two minutes before Thanet struck again and strolled through yet another set of missed tackles.

The second half started with more promise and after 6 minutes Chris Boyd crossed the line and Cusack converted 10-17 and Trojans had a chance. But they let it slip again and on fourteen minutes Thanet kicked a penalty and just six minutes later scored a converted try to make the score 10 -27 and with twenty minutes to go it looked all over for Trojans. Just four minutes later Trojans second row Neil Andrews was trapped at the bottom of a ruck and suffered what transpired to be a serious injury. Andrews wasn't moving and was unconscious when medical help arrived, with two physios and a doctor attending it was decided to call an ambulance and he is at present in Southampton General with pressure to his spinal cord and unable to move his arms or legs,

After a 25 min break the game resumed and Trojans scored a converted try by Joby Kochanowski to end the game 17-27

Coach Barry Bridgman was downbeat after the game, " The first thing is the injury to Neil Andrews, we all wish him well and that puts the game into perspective he said. However if I am just talking about the game I have to say I am very disappointed, the whole performance apart from the last twelve minutes was flat, there was no will to win, no passion. The forwards were  poor today, we let them dominate the line out, we were giving away penalty after penalty which was killing us and we couldn't hold on to the ball. Our shape was poor and our tackling was the worst I have seen since I came to the club four years ago!

Training was generally poorly attended this week and that's a telling difference between this game and last. We have to re-group yet again and try to win away at Dover, mind you our away record is far better than our home one so who knows?

8th October 2011   Portsmouth    Away    League    Won 51 - 23

Grey and chilly - not just the weather but Portsmouth's mood after their comprehensive defeat at the hands of a rampant Trojans side determined to prove they can play some rugby. The pre match write up in the local press had Trojans as very much the underdog and Portsmouth as certain victors. But Trojans re-wrote the script.

It looked as though all the predictions from Portsmouth were correct as Portsmouth were 7-0 up within a minute when an intercepted pass let Portsmouth run half the length of the pitch to score.But Trojans didn't let this phase them at all and came back almost immediately with a converted try from Cusack after four minutes, 7-7. On the twelve minute mark Portsmouth kicked a penalty to ease into the lead 7-10. On twenty six minutes Rudi Kochanowski scored a try and Trojans were on top from here on in, Cusack kicked a penalty on thirty one minutes and Sean Fennell playing in the unaccustomed right wing position scored a try on thirty seven. So the half time score was 10-20 to Trojans

The second half started as expected with Portsmouth coming out of the traps quickly and kicking a penalty in the second minute, 13-20. Trojans then cut loose and scored another 5 tries, with Portsmouth only able to add a converted try and a penalty. Trojans totally destroyed Portsmouth in this half, including pushing them back over their own line from a five metre scrum, Portsmouth ran out of front rows and scrums went uncontested after about 15 minutes of the period, and they were under the cosh in every phase of play. Joby Kochanowksi, brother Rudi with his second, Chris Hamp, Dave Strange and a penalty try were the scorers with Cusack adding three conversions.

Coach Barry Bridgman said, " I have been saying that we are not a bad side, that we just needed to fix a few little things, change the game plan slightly and we would start to play some decent rugby. This was a game we fancied as they had only won one game and we knew that we had had a good week in training so we were confident that we could do a job. I wasn't expecting us to be quite so good though! We out-rucked, out mauled and out scrummaged them, we ran through and around them and for the most part our defence was very good.

I hope that's the start of  the players believing in themselves and the start of a climb up the table. We are capable of winning our fair share of games in this league, we just have to be consistently as good as we were today. We were superb from 1 to 18 but I have to single out skipper Mark Greenhalgh, he saw off three props today, made some good carries and his tackle count as every week was massive.

We cannot rest on our laurels though, it's Thanet at home next week and they are a target, add to it that we haven't won at home yet and it becomes very important. So another good training week is needed"

1st October 2011   Beckenham    Home    League    Lost 13 - 37

A hot afternoon saw Beckenham turn up a 2.35 after being stuck in traffic, the kick off put back until 3.15 and Trojans fall apart in the last 30 minutes of the game.

Things started quite well for Trojans with a try from Jobi Kohanowski after 12 minutes. Beckenham were playing reasonably well though and replied with a penalty after 23 mins. Trojans had their fair share of ball and territory in the rest of the half but Beckenham scored next with a converted try and took the lead 5-10. Just before the half time whistle Trojans had the chance of a penalty and Kochanowski stepped up to kick the three points, so at the halfway point it was 8-10 to the visitors.

Trojans started the second half very well, the kick was chased by Elliot Culley and he tackled the catcher, he was given a bit of help and the Beckenham lock was driven into touch. From the resultant line out a quick ruck saw scrum half Neal Haworth dart up the blindside and score wide out.

13-10 to Trojans and looking ok. Then it all fell apart, a sin binning of the Trojans 6 resulted in Beckenham scoring fifteen points while he was off of the field. They then scored two more tries, one of them converted for a final score of 13-37.

Trojans tackling was woeful during the last thirty minutes of this game, fatigue played a big part and Beckenham took full advantage. A couple of Tries were scored with several tackles being missed and Trojans were glad when the final whistle blew.

Coach Barry Bridgman said " I am very disappointed with the result, I thought we had a real chance today after last week even though our training has been disrupted and the bench changed 5 times during Friday and Saturday morning! We were going fairly well but blew up in the heat and Beckenham didn't, they punished us for our poor tackling in the last half hour scoring four tries and they were all a result of missed tackles, some of them as a result of several misssed tackles.

We also have to get game smart, I think I will have to change the way we are playing in the second half of matches or at least during the last twenty minutes, our plan has to change. Some of our players also need to realise that it was easy to have team spirit in barrow loads when we were winning every game last year, this year it isn't happening and they must show what they can do to gel in adversity or I shall have to make changes."

24th September 2011   Cobham  -  Away   - League - Won 22 - 16

Trojans travelled to Cobham with yet another changed side, enforced by injury and unavailability, but with confidence in their ability to take a win at last.

There was a very large crowd all expecting their side to beat the bottom side comfortably. It wasn't to be! Trojans came and spoilt the party and by half time half of the crowd had retired to the bar.

Trojans started very well, spinning the ball wide in the first couple of minutes and almost going in under the posts, if it had not been for a tackle off the ball Trojans would have been at least five points up! The referee awarded a penalty, when a penalty try was possible and no yellow card. Unfortunately the subsequent kick drifted wide and Cobham survived.

Trojans had by far the best of the first twenty minutes and wasted two certain tries due to selfish play but on twenty minutes a scything run from Boyd was carried on through a couple of pairs of hands and the supporting second row Andrews scored under the posts, again a simple kick was missed and the score 0-5 to Trojans.

The next Twenty minutes were more even but again Trojans missed another chance before Boyd scored himself, on 34 mins, after a great break. This time the kick was good and Trojans were 12-0 up.

Unfortunately Trojans eased off for five minutes allowing Cobham to score a try before the break and so at the half it was 5-12 to the away side.

The second half started with  penalties to Cobham in the 1st and 3rd minutes making the score 11-12 and Trojans support getting nervy. Quite rightly so as it happened, with only ten minutes gone of the half Cobham scored a try and the score board registered them in the lead for the first time in the match 16-12.

The first fifteen  minutes of  the half had been Cobham's but Trojans kicked a penalty through Joby Kochanowski and just six minutes later centre Olly Johnson went over near the posts and Kochanowski kicked the conversion for 16-22.

The last twenty saw Cobham pinned into their half for much of the time and Trojans defence working very hard when Cobham had possession, Trojans very nearly scored twice more in this closing period anyone of which would have given the bonus point but couldn't do so.

Coach Barry Bridgman said "I am very pleased with today, it would have been easy to come here and roll over, easy to think we couldn't expect to win on the road. But we dogged it out, any win is a good one, an away win is better and to win away as your first win when you have had a bit of a traumatic start to the season is very good.

We had yet another changed side and training this week has been disrupted but we played some decent rugby today and if we had been able to put away all of our chances we would have won by a huge number, I counted six tries which we should have scored!

There is of course a lot to do, our line out was pretty shoddy today and our kicking could be better. On the positive side our tackling was much better this week and our defensive patterns much better kept. The other positive of course is that we keep turning up good players and when everyone is fit we will have a very good pool of thirty plus players.

I am now looking forward to the Beckenham game next week with expectation, its good to know we can win and win well in this league.

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This page last updated:  01 December, 2011