Sports, Beer and Banter at Varsity 2011

Today saw Portsmouth University journey to Southampton for a day of sports in the sunshine. The ultimate contest for bragging rights on the south coast saw every team from every sport […]


Today saw Portsmouth University journey to Southampton for a day of sports in the sunshine. The ultimate contest for bragging rights on the south coast saw every team from every sport go head to head to determine an ultimate victor.


Eager to experience the camaraderie, sportsmanship and the array of talent on display, myself and fellow tab reporter Tom Mcnally made the trip down to wide lane to see what was going on.

As we arrived we headed for the clubhouse terrace bar to get our bearings. Sipping cold beers from the sun basked balcony we were delighted to spot a demonstration from the Portsmouth cheerleaders just yards in front of us. These gorgeous girls throwing each other around in the sun made us certain we had made the right decision in coming along. Although ultimately outshone by the Southampton Vixens the Portsmouth girls put on a spectacularly entertaining display.

Looking further afield the whole of wide lane was abuzz with activity with teams competing in every sport from Rugby to Lacrosse. From our vantage point at the bar we saw that a lacrosse game was starting immediately after the cheerleaders. Now to my amateur eye it wasn’t immediately obvious what was happening as lacrosse seemed to involve a lot of running around and hitting each other with sticks, with one Southampton player in particular taking a huge blow to the face and the ref seemingly oblivious. However Portsmouth appeared to be on top scoring at least one goal, I can only assume they went onto win.

Immediately in front of the lacrosse the rowing teams were in full action. With a definite lack of water at wide lane the race was being completed on rowing machines but was exciting nonetheless. The Southampton girls looked in great shape and cruised to comfortable victory against a lacklustre Portsmouth team. The men’s team followed this up with another comfortable victory.

The concentration now turned away from the astro-turf around the clubhouse as the men’s first’s rugby was about to get under way out on the field. Grabbing a quick one for the road we followed the masses and took our places on the touchlines as the match kicked off. Just before the seconds had battled to victory in a closely fought contest and the firsts match promised to be just as exciting.

However immediately from kick-off the gulf in class between the two teams was evident. A dominant pack and some spectacular passing moves from the backs saw Southampton surge to 17-0 lead inside the first 15 minutes. The number 10 was orchestrating things beautifully, getting the ball out wide to exploit the difference in pace on the wings. Portsmouth did make a fight back scoring a try on 20 minutes but this was not enough to prevent an easy victory for Southampton.

All in all the day was a great success and thoroughly enjoyable for myself and colleague. With beer and banter flowing the day showed the high standard of sport being carried out by both Universities.

.A more detailed report of scores and results will follow.