Petersfield’s home game on Saturday was hastily rearranged last Thursday as an away match due to the battering their Penns Place grass pitches had taken the previous weekend and a weather forecast for match day predicting more heavy rain. Havant, who have an Artificial Grass Pitch, kindly offered to host the match with midday kick off and play the Penns Place fixture on 21 March 2026.The promised rain did not materialise, and the sun even put in an appearance midway through the second half.

Technology came to the rescue for the over one hundred Vice Presidents and guests attending their annual pre match lunch at Petersfield through a live stream via You Tube thanks to Petersfield’s VEO video camera system. At Havant a boisterous crowd of about 80, bolstered by Havant 3rd team players, who had their game, scheduled for 3pm, called off, made for a decent atmosphere.

Petersfield kicked off towards the northern end of the ground and within 3 minutes had secured their first try via some messy broken play, from both sides, allowing 14 Eddie Matthews to score under the posts. The try was duly converted by 10 Fly Half Brad Caparo for 0-7.

On 12 mins the Petersfield 10 Brad Caparo was lost to what looked like a nasty ankle injury.

On 14 minutes Havant opened their account securing an uncontested line out with the ball being moved inside for a score under the posts. The try was duly converted to even the score at 7-7

On 25 minutes the first of the afternoons yellow cards was shown to the Havant Loosehead Prop for blatant blocking. From the resulting penalty McLean duly scored to make it 7-10.
On 29 minutes Havant again successfully gathered a line out and after moving the ball inside eluded a couple of Petersfield tackles to again score under the posts. The try was converted to make it 14-10.

On 30 minutes Petersfield scored probably the best try of the game following the successful gather of the restart kick. A series of quick passes and offloads between forwards and backs enabled the Petersfield 9 Dan Chinnock to score under the posts. The try was converted by McLean for 14-17.

On 38 minutes Havant were penalised with the resulting kick finding touch. From the line out Petersfield formed their drive, which Havant attempted, in desperation, to collapse. Tighthead Prop Dan Sargent peeled off the back and scored in the corner. The resulting conversion was missed for 14-22.

On the stroke of half time Petersfield scored from a line out catch and drive with Sargent again the scorer. McLean converted for a haft time score of 14-29.

From the restart Petersfield moved through some good phases of play for Matthews to set up Sam Brown in the corner. The conversion was missed for 14-34.

Petersfield seemed to be well on top, but then had 7 Karter Whittock sinned binned. The player advantage, along with a couple of murdered chances from Petersfield allowed Havant to get back into the game with two converted try’s for a score of 28-34.

On 60 minutes Havant’s momentum was dented somewhat when they had a player sin binned for a reckless high tackle. With Whittock restored for five minutes he scored a try in the corner with McLean converting to make it 28-41.

This settled the Petersfield nerves and they controlled the play, but had to wait until the 76 minute to score again. A Havant infringement, lead to a kick to the corner. The resulting lineout was gathered successfully and then moved inside quickly out of the stuttering drive for the 18 Jack Janaway to score. The conversion was missed for 28-46.

In the dying seconds Havant scored a converted consolation try, to make the final score 35-46.

A much needed bonus point win for Petersfield. They managed to control large periods of the game and maybe should have scored a few more points from good positions.

Havant, as is expected, kept nagging away to secure a try bonus point and some respectability within the points difference. While Petersfield move up to fifth in the league Havant drop to sixth.

Next Saturday Petersfield journey to the New Forest to play bottom of the league Ellingham and Ringwood.

Petersfield squad :Jackson Clark, Sam Brown, Dan Sargent, Oli Hunt, Zac Conley, Alex Robinson, Karter Whittock, Liam Perkins, Dan Chinnock Brad Caparo, Miles Sampson Greg Jansen, Matt McLean, Eddie Matthews, Charlie Muir, Replacements, Will Norton Jack Janaway, Joe Knowles.