The first tournament of the season saw the top four teams in Hampshire in action.
Every game was very close and highly competitive with a couple of games going to the wire. The first game of the tournament saw Pompey Ladies take on Pompey Men, Pompey Men had a reshaped side with Liam and Paul Green making their debuts and Nozzer Norrish playing his first game for a year, the game started with both set of shooters on top form, with both James Clarke and Jo Casey shooting well the game was point to point until the last couple of minutes when Pompey Men pulled into the lead and won by three points
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The next game saw Pompey Rhinos take on a weakened Liphook side. Pompey Rhinos had a few changes to their side with Chris Sherwood (Snappy) making a return to the side and Bradley Sherwood placing his first game of Tchoukball. Rhinos got of to a steady start but could not pull away from Liphook until the final third when Liphook run out of steam due to playing with five players instead of normal nine.
Liphook took on Pompey Ladies next and in a tight game Pompey Ladies had the edge over Liphook, with Lou Whatmore and Miranda Easting exploiting the gaps in Liphooks defence this enabled Ladies to hold the lead into the final third and win by 3 points.
Pompey men took on Pompey Rhinos and very quickly took a five point lead, with some powerful shooting from Alex French and Nozzer Norrish this soon turned into an eight point lead. Rhinos made a tactical change and drag the lead back to six points by the end of the first third. Rhinos had the better of the second third with Alroy Bennett's shooting making a difference between the team but Pompey men still led by four at the end of the second third, the game carried on being tight but slowly with help of good team work from Kevin Fowler and Jason Harris the gap reduced until the with two minutes to go Rhinos pulled level.
The teams went point for point until the last 10 seconds when rhinos pulled into a one point lead and then the final whistle blew.
Lyall Cairns Captain of Rhinos said "This game was a great game to watch and play in and neither team deserved to lose, games like this make you remember why you play Tchoukball."
Next game a tired Pompey Men team took on Liphook, this as the rest of the games during the day was a very close game, with Olivier Davies and Rod Ellis controlling the defence Pompey's shooters where having a hard time scoring, but eventually Pompey men pulled into a five point lead. Pompey men soon made some tactical changes to rest some tired players and Liphook soon started to close the gap, but this time Pompey Men held their nerve and won by three points,
Last game of the day saw Pompey Ladies take on Pompey Rhinos, in a close first third Rhinos could not gain a lead on the ladies side. Pompey Ladies Pippa Rumbold was having a superb game and Rhinos defence where finding it impossible to stop her scoring, during the second third Rhino pulled into a eight point lead even though Pippa was still cause them headaches on defence, the final third still saw Pompey Rhinos control the game but player of the match must go to Pippa Rumbold for a outstanding display of right hand shooting.
Thank you to everyone who turned up to play in this tournament as this was one of the best tournament Pompey Tchoukball club has held.
