Petersfield slipped to a 46-33 defeat at home to Bournemouth in South Central Two on Saturday, despite an impressive second-half performance.

Bournemouth broke the deadlock after two minutes with an unconverted try.

Petersfield responded well and won a penalty.

A kick by Nick Blumlein to touch secured lineout ball, with Ryan Morse taking the catch and breaking through the visitors’ defence to pop a pass to Liam Perkins, who rolled over the try line to place the ball 15 metres in field from touch.

Blumlein’s conversion put Petersfield 7-5 ahead.

From the restart inside centre Will Mathews caught the ball deep in the home side’s 22 and launched a long-range kick to touch inside Bournemouth’s half.

The messy lineout was eventually won by Bournemouth, who passed to their scrum half. He bust through the despairing Field defence to score a converted try and put the visitors 12-7 ahead.

Petersfield responded positively and a lineout was caught by Ryan Morse, who smuggled the ball to hooker Sam Brown. Prop Dan Sargent grasped the ball and twisted and turned over the line for an unconverted try to make the score 12-12.

Bournemouth responded with a try from a rolling maul, and the successful conversion put the visitors 19-12 ahead.

The visitors soon scored another converted try to go 26-12 ahead.

Bournemouth were firmly on the front foot and scored another converted try to go 33-12 ahead.

A minute before half-time Sargent received a yellow card for an illegal clear out.

Bournemouth successfully converted the penalty kick to lead 36-12 at half-time.

Field youngster Dan Chinnock replaced Alex Duffus as scum half at the restart and immediately made a significant impression with his speed, accuracy and confidence.

Fellow academy graduate Ethan Horsfall also made a positive impression on the left wing in the second half.

The home side scored the first points of the second half when Perkins powered his way through 15 metres to score a try.

Blumlein’s conversion made the score 36-19.

Bournemouth extended their lead when they charged down a clearance kick to score another converted try to 43-19 up.

Petersfield then conceded a penalty for not rolling away from a tackle, giving the visitors an easy penalty to add to their score and go 46-19 ahead.

Bournemouth were reduced to 14 players when their scrum half was yellow carded with less than ten minutes to play.

With six minutes to play Petersfield took a penalty lineout with a Perkins catch, which moved in field through a rolling maul. A ruck formed and second row Oli Hunt, pushed through by Sargent, stretched across the try line to score Petersfield’s fourth try and secure the try bonus point. The conversion made the score 46-26.

In the final minute Petersfield took a scrum against the head ten metres out and a kick pass to the right wing found Miles Sampson, who caught the ball and powered over the line for a further converted try.

By Chris Todd