RNRL Academy V US Portsmouth Seahawks

In a fiercely contested local derby the US Portsmouth Seahawks beat the RNRL Academy at HMS Temeraire by 16-22. Marc Warrens Academy side featured a backbone of last year’s squad but most encouragingly for RNRL many new faces made their debuts in the team and came close to turning over a vastly experienced Seahawks side. For those of you who have followed RNRL over the years will spot 5 names in the Seahawks back division who played at highest level for RNRL and GBAF. Those names were backed up by a quality line up of civilian players who have all enjoyed much success in recent years in the London and Southern League.
GBAF Referee Tony Butterfill got the match underway after a minutes applause in memory of Ronan Costello the 17 year old Huddersfield Giants player who tragically passed away last week after sustaining an injury whilst playing the sport he loved.
Ten minutes into the game the RNRL side were on the score board, a debut try for Brendan Brewster rounded off a good move by his side touching down out wise, the conversion was just wide so it was 4:0. The Seahawks struck back six minutes later. A powerful break through midfield by Jerome Trail got his side back on terms and with a Danny Johnson conversion the Seahawks had their noses in front. This lead was to last barely three minutes as a fumble from the kick off by the Seahawks defence saw the ball come loose and Jack Savage reacted quickest to gather up the loose ball crossing close to the posts. Nick Bell was on target this time round putting his side ahead by 2. The remainder of the half really belonged to the Seahawks, the RNRL side had plenty of possession their lack of experience as a side showed with several poor decisions being made gifting the ball back to the Seahawks. The Seahawks made the most of their opportunities scoring a further two trys before the break. The influential Trail was involved in their second score making another break through midfield he slipped the ball to Luke Tumabuna who crossed under the posts making Johnson’s conversion that much easier, 12-10. The final score of the first half rounded off a good move by the Seahawks, the ball being shipped out to their left wing finding Jordan Humphries who beat the defence to touch down out wide. The conversion went wide and with no further scores the first half ended with the Seahawks up by 10-16.
The first period of the second half was a bit scrappy with neither side really imposing themselves on the match however after 55 minutes the Seahawks strengthened their grip on the game, Wes Duigan rounding off the move scoring under the posts giving Danny Johnson the easiest of conversions. This was to be the Seahawks last score of the match as the RN side enjoyed their best period f the game keeping the opposition in their own half for long periods earning back to back sets but not being able to convert the possession into points. The last try of the match went to prop Chris ‘ticker’ Hart who used his size and strength to get over the line for the touchdown. Another good conversion by Nick Bell reduced the deficit to just six points at 16-22 but it was not to be. Good Seahawks defence frustrated the RN side causing them to attempt plays that were not really on making life easier for the Hawks. The frustration was made worse when Ref Butterfill sent an RNRL player to the sin bin for talking back leaving the RN side short of a player for the remainder of the game. So despite a good last quarter the RNRL Academy came up just short of the win but with so many new and exciting new talents on show Coach Warren took a lot out of the match despite the result.
RNRL:- Josh Foster-Hall, Connor Slader, Rowan Griffiths–Jones, Scott Mills, Matthew Binns, John Clay(C), Nick Bell, Grant Clissold, Jimmy Elliott, Tom Jones, Matt Holland, Shaun Houghton, Danny Jonson (Jnr), Brendan Brewston, Josh Copeland, Craig Sutton, Tom Binns, Adam Birkett, Jack Savage, Oscar Russell, Paul Saberton, Chris Hart, Matt Southern
Scorers:- T. Brewston, Savage, Hart
G. Bell (2Conv)

Seahawks:- Alex Herron, Jordan Humphries, Jerome Trail, Tom Boyce, Tim Vondonalavu, Danny Johnson, James Wagstaffe, Justin Powell, Levi HuiHui, John O’Neil, Tom Lewis, Dan Turner, Wes Duigan, Tony Reynolds, Wayne John, Adam Greenslade, Luke Tumabuna, Danny Badham, Grant Morris.

Scorers T. Trail, Tumabuna, Humphries, Dugan
G. Johnson (3 Conv