Bognor’s miserable memories of a depressing defeat in the Bournemouth mud back in November were completely extinguished in this glorious display of attacking rugby where they scored nine tries in total, seven of them from their talented young backs. Portsmouth remain top of the table but their narrow win, without a bonus point, over Andover meant that Bognor reduced the gap between first and second to seven points, with Portsmouth due to visit Hampshire Avenue on 11th April.

Bognor showed their intent to keep ball in hand right from the start and, with Bournemouth also aiming to play open rugby, this was always going to be a high-scoring game. Bognor’s set-pieces functioned smoothly throughout and this set a platform of quality possession that their speedy threequarters were able to exploit.

The home team opened the scoring inside the first minute of the match when the ball was moved slickly along the line, allowing winger Charlie Spray to touch down in the right-hand corner.

Five minutes later, from inside their own 22, crisp handling resulted in Adam Halligan celebrating his 18th birthday by finishing off a fine move to score his side’s second try, converted by Kurtus Dent.

Bognor’s backs were looking increasingly dangerous but Bournemouth were also showing clear signs that they were no slouches themselves. In particular, their 13 was making his mark, showing pace and strength with ball in hand whilst his superb tackling prevented at least another three or four tries during the course of the match.

After twenty minutes the visitors accepted a simple penalty in an attempt to settle things down and get some points on the board, and for the rest of the first half they more than held their own.

Full-back Halligan and wing Freddie Hayes showed their versatility by swapping last week’s roles and, with Connor Herrington providing even more gas on the inside, they really were causing all sorts of problems for their opposite numbers.

Skipper Charlie Jays, enjoying a commanding performance in the air, was the next to score but Bournemouth hit back with a try of their own from a driving lineout and, with the gap reduced to just seven points, the visitors were right back in this game.

With half an hour gone Bournemouth were enjoying their best spell of the match and had an attacking scrum five metres from Bognor’s line. The response of the home pack, however, was emphatic, the front row of loose-head Simon Billingham, hooker Ollie Mitchell and tight-head Charlie Weller winning a rare heel against the head. This released Jamie Foote to tear up the field but, with Hayes in the clear outside him, the pass went astray and a golden opportunity missed.

Minutes later Hayes had a second bite of the cherry when he was put in the clear by Herrington and this time he made no mistake in earning a bonus-point for his side.

Second row Matt Norrell was forced to miss last week’s outing at Winchester due to illness so, when he came off the bench at the start of the second half, the big second row clearly had a point to prove, and he immediately started doing so with a great thirty-metre charge at the opposition.

Halligan then lit up what seemed to be a quiet period of the game by nonchalantly beating five would-be tacklers to score a wonderful individual try which he proceeded to convert himself.

The visitors grabbed their second try but were then forced to move to uncontested scrums due to injuries to two front-row players.

Not distracted by the lack of contestable scrums, Mitchell firstly scored a try of his own and then, minutes later, set off on a remarkable run from deep inside his own 22. Showing incredible pace for a front row forward, the hooker sprinted eighty metres before offloading to the supporting Herrington who touched down to put the result beyond doubt.

Spray then scored a crowd-pleasing opportunist try before Bournemouth, who never gave up from start to finish, helped themselves to a third try of the afternoon.

The last word went to the consistently outstanding Herrington who touched down for his second try, allowing Halligan to pop over the extra two points.

Bognor now miss a week due to the culmination of the Six Nations before they travel to bottom-placed Eastleigh on 21st March. All support is welcome.

Leighton Thomas