Romsey Rugby Club’s under-12s were just edged out in a tight game at Portsmouth.

A deluge of rain before kick-off made for a difficult surface and it was the hosts who adapted quickest.

Romsey received the kick off and were not able to relieve the Portsmouth pressure by running out their half, so instead opted to kick.

However, this tactic backfired, with two poor kicks being run back by Portsmouth for tries early on.

Portsmouth added a third before the break to make it 3-0.

Romsey made some changes in personnel at half-time and attacked from the start of the second half, with some strong runs down the centre, which created some good positions to attack from.

However, there was still a lack of composure at the breakdown, with no-one protecting the ball leading to several turn-overs for Portsmouth. Pressure did finally pay for Romsey, with a maul leading to the boys crashing over and getting on the scoreboard. The step up in aggression at the tackle area slowed down the Portsmouth ball, which allowed a better defensive line to keep them pegged back in their own half. From a scrum in the Romsey half a jinking run from Jasper Bates lead to yardage being made, for quick ball to be recycled to Toby Cazaeux who attacked down the left, and a cut back inside led to another try. Despite having the greater amount of ball in the second half, Romsey could not breach the opposition defence again and the score ended 3-2 to the hosts.

The Romsey boys played their hearts out and should be very proud of the efforts they gave throughout the games.

If you’d like to find out more about Romsey Wasps come along to a Sunday training session between 10am-noon at the Romsey Sports Centre.