Old Tiffs welcome Portsmouth to Grists Memorial Ground on Saturday, in what will be the first ever competitive meeting between the clubs.
Our visitors from the South Coast are one of the oldest rugby clubs in the area, heralding back to 1886 following the merger of Victoria Football Club and Southsea Football Club and have proven to be one of the most successful. In recent years fans of Portsmouth have enjoyed seeing their side compete at National League level, facing the likes of Richmond and London Scottish. Hopefully they won't find the facilities at Summer Avenue too much of a shock...
After relegation into London 3 SW last season Portsmouth have started strongly with 6 wins out of the first 7 games, their only defeat coming on the first day of the season to newly promoted Old Emmanuel. Since then they have comfortably beaten all before them, scoring 361 points (an average of 51.6 per game) whilst only conceding 122 (an impressively tight average of only 17.4 per game).
With 3rd placed Old Cranleighans favourites to beat Warlingham, Portsmouth will need a win to stay 2nd in the league and keep the pressure on the surprise leaders Old Emmanuel.
For Tiffs, confidence has returned after two successive wins and whilst they sit in 7th, a bonus point win could see them jump to as high as 4th in the league. To achieve such a result, the boys in purple and white would need to pull out the performance of the season as whilst they have scored an respectable 195 points (Av. 27.9 per game) they have conceded 200 (28.6 per game).
Coach Andy Blackburn certainly feels it is possible however, stating that whilst Portsmouth "have had a good start to the league...we are on the up after 2 wins and with our strongest team [selected] so far this year [we] are looking for an upset to really kick off Ladies Day."
With an expected large crowd on the sidelines, this could potentially be a turning point for the OTs season, a fact not lost on captain Jang who has told that lads that he "can't play down how immense the fixture this weekend is".
There is no doubt that Portsmouth will travel up the A3 expectant of a 7th win in a row, but in an 80 minute game of rugby, anything can happen. With ladies to impress on the sidelines and an ever increasing pressure for selection from lads in the 2nd team, the boys in the 1st XV will know that nothing less than 100% will do.
Have they got the strength of character to stand up? Come down to Grists Memorial Ground for a 2.30pm kick off to find out, there are bound be fireworks whatever happens!
IFLOT x
Previous meeting n/a
Historical Results: n /a
Current form:
Old Tiffs - LWLWW
Old Emmanuel - WWWWW
Full Fixtures for Round 8 London 3 South West
Away from Hampton Court, the stand out fixture of the round sees 5th playing 6th (Battersea Ironsides v Teddington). With both sides just about Tiffs in the league, the lads are Grists will be hoping for a high scoring draw!
Elsewhere, Old Emmanuel will look to continue their 100% start against 8th placed Petersfield whilst root of the table Basingstoke make the short journey to 4th placed Trojans, another heavy defeat seemingly inevitable.
Basingstoke v Trojans
Battersea Ironsides v Teddington
Old Cranleighans v Warlingham
Old Emanuel v Petersfield
Old Tiffinians v Portsmouth
Weybridge Vandals v New Milton & District