Photo by Luke Simmonds

 

1st's Final Score

Tchoukball 1sts	17
Portsmouth Rhinos	33

2nd's Final Score

Tchoukball 2nds	7
Portsmouth Rhinos	32

 

On Tuesday 25th November, the University of Portsmouth's Tchoukball Club played their first home match against an older and more experienced team - The Portsmouth Rhinos.

The Rhinos players are made up of some of the men who play for the Portsmouth Tchoukball Club, who the University Team practices with on a weekly basis.

The University club has been growing superbly, with a great number of students willing to get involved in the new sports club; this was the first time we have fielded two teams.

The match took place straight after an hour long training session at Portsmouth High School, which was probably not a good idea!

It was also harder to control the court in this match, as we only used seven players, and we usually train with nine to a team.

Despite this, the game started well for Portsmouth, with the Rhinos making mistakes early on, and the Portsmouth Team took advantage of this.

However, what the Rhinos showed them was that they had much more skill in the placement of their shots and had far more match experience. Jenny Jottpunkt, the First Team's Centre Pivot - who plays in the centre of the court, switching the ball from end to end - played extremely well. Chris Westwood and Jamie Warner, both the most experienced players, scored most of the points in the first match from their respective shooting positions.

Photo by Luke Simmonds

The problem came in defending the shots and taking the pick ups from the Rhinos - not even Seb Fernando, who has made some superb catches so far this year, could stop the power of the opposition.

The score at the end of the First Team's Match was 33-17 to the Rhinos.

The Second Team then played the Ragged Rhinos. The opposing team only had seven starting players with no subs, so they could not give a fresh look to the side. The Portsmouth team noted this and felt that a result could be on the cards.

Unfortunately, this was not the case, and the Rhinos stormed ahead by confusing the University side with "multiple switching", whereby the two shooters on each side switched the ball between themselves from one side to another.

This meant that the Portsmouth defenders had to run around the 'D' to stop the ball from hitting the ground. By half time the score was 16-2 to the Rhinos.

Some great play by the uni team, particularly Olaolu Lawal as right shooter and Andrew Roach in defence, brought some points in for the Portsmouth Team but it was not enough and the eventual result was Portsmouth 7 Rhinos 32.

The two matches were highly enjoyable and full of excitement. Hopefully the few spectators the on the sidelines enjoyed themselves.

Next year promises to be an exciting one, with the First Universities Tchoukball Competition in May to look forward to.

Tchoukball Club blasts headlong into first match

By Andrew Roach

Last updated: Wed 19th Nov 2008 at 16:29

 

Image by Luke Simmonds

 

Southampton University 54 Portsmouth University 36

 

Last Wednesday saw the University's Tchoukball Club compete in their first ever competitive away match to Southampton University, but despite a valiant effort by the team it was not enough to prevent the eventual loss.

The first third saw both teams trade early blows, with strong shooting from both sides. As with all Portsmouth vs Southampton games, the match concerned more than just points and league places. Portsmouth started well and stunned their, opponents putting two points past them in a matter of seconds.

Southampton quickly recovered and with a well organised team brought the score to within a point at the end of the third.

The second third featured several changes, with both teams bringing on newer players, allowing them to gain first hand experience in the fastest handball sport in the world. Both teams started the period well as they resumed the battle for the lead.

However, Southampton started to show their experience and they used multiple switches to stretch the Portsmouth defence, which at times left them vulnerable. This enabled Southampton to establish a lead of thirteen points; at the end of the second period the score was 37-24.

As the final third started, Southampton reverted back to their starting line up, as they once again used the multiple switching to extend their lead.

Despite Portsmouth scoring several points in quick succession and showing some well organised defending, it was not enough to prevent Southampton taking the lead.

A few late errors by Southampton gifted Portsmouth a few points, but in the end the score finished 36-54 to Southampton.

Overall, it was a great first performance from Portsmouth as they showed that the future is looking bright, and the results will definitely improve as they play more competitive matches and gain more game time experience.