Petersfield earned a narrow 40-38 win against Guildford at Penns Place on Saturday in Regional Two South Central.

Petersfield opened the scoring with a try by prop Dan Sargent scored from a penalty lineout five metres out.

Number eight Matt Momber caught the ball at the tail and delivered the ball to scrum half Joe Knowles, who passed to the standing off and accelerating Sargent who pealed round the tail to score a try converted by Nick Blumlein.

Before the end of the first quarter Petersfield were penalised for holding on in a ruck and Guildford kicked for three points.

Guildford then scored their first try when they had a three-man overlap and charged down their left wing. They kicked through as the home side’s defence closed in and the ball was chased down by the Guildford scrum half to touch down for a converted try.

Guildford scored their second try from a penalty lineout on Petersfield’s 22 after some excellent support play by their back row and centres.

Half-time was called when Petersfield were on the attack but lost the ball in contact, and Guildford kicked to touch to end the half 17-7 ahead.

Just two minutes into the second half Petersfield’s pack were on the attack and just two metres out a Guildford tackler forced the ball carrier to knock on, setting up a Guildford defensive scrum on the five-metre line. Petersfield’s scrum dominated and won the ball against the head for Knowles to miss pass the decoy runner to inside centre Greg Jansen who powered over for a try converted by Blumlein.

Petersfield quickly added to the scoreboard through a well-worked phase of play as the ball arrived with the speedy Eddie Mathews on the wing and he broke though two tackles to dive for the line for Blumlein to convert and put Petersfield 21-17 ahead.

Guildford were then offside at a scrum, and Petersfield kicked the penalty to touch near the corner. Petersfield captured the ball and Sargent again pealed round the tail and crashed through two potential tackles to score a converted try.

Petersfield were now punching holes in Guildford’s defence, while the visitors struggled to retain possession and build phases of play.

After another strong Petersfield scrum the ball was passed to director of rugby and coach Matt McLean, who had come off the bench at centre. He straightened the line and drew a Guildford tackler but passed out to his left. The final pass was taken by Miles Sampson who ran down the wing and shrugged off tacklers to score an unconverted try and make it 33-17.

Guildford then scored their third try when they caught the ball from a lineout and rolled over for a converted try.

Petersfield responded well and their backline produced a series of quick passes that released late call-up Toby Colwood to score a converted try.

In the last five minutes Guildford scored a converted try to the right of the posts to make it 40-31.

Petersfield’s restart kick was too long and they had no chance to compete for the ball. Guildford passed inside and across the park to bypass Petersfield’s backs and launched a superbly-weighted kick pass to the left corner for their winger to catch and touch down in goal for a converted try on the final whistle.

By Chris Todd