A TOUCH of brotherly love took centre stage in Andover Rugby Club Thirds’ recent 61-31 defeat to Havant Thirds.

Fin and Charlie Waite both scored tries on the day, after setting each other up to finish.

Charlie sparked the partnership when he slipped through Fin for his try.

And Fin returned the favour soon after when he put through Charlie for a try of his own.

First team star Tom Erskine also got his name on the scoresheet, while Josh Gibbs kicked a number of points for the Thirds.

However Andover were well beaten by Havant Thirds, who put a strong side out on the day.

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Andover Seconds tasted success last week, beating Portsmouth Seconds 17-5.

The Seconds welcomed Portsmouth to the Goodship Ground for their second home game of the season.

Andover were keen to bounce back after a poor result in their previous fixture.

A much changed Andover team played without both Craig Allen and Josh Gibbs who were both on First team duties.

However they did see the welcome return of Jack Buckley and some quality players, loaned from the third team.

The game kicked off with Harry Foxwell taking the captain’s armband, and in typical fashion, Andover were slow to start as the powerful Portsmouth forwards traded blows and tried to take control of the game.

Andover pushed hard towards the Portsmouth try line and the resulting maul allowed Matt Moore to break from the back and crash over the line, only to be held up.

Moore went again from the scrum, but desperate defending from Portsmouth meant he was held up a second time.

Portsmouth returned the assault and were soon parked in the Andover’s 22.

Andover gained possession and as the ball made its way to Paul Gilbert, a missed pass saw Marcus Mercer light up the field as he out sprinted the whole of the Portsmouth team to get Andover’s first just before half-time.

With only five points on the board and 40 minutes played the game remained on a knife-edge until a well timed pass from Jack Buckley sent Mercer through again. He beat three defenders to score under the posts for his second.

An upbeat Andover could smell victory but Portsmouth had other ideas, a well struck kick saw them again on the attack and hungry for a try.

Andove had to put bodies on the line and as Portsmouth went for the corner it was only luck that an Andover hand stopped the ball being grounded. Andover again made inroads into the Portsmouth defence.

Matt Moore, who was outstanding throughout, made a break for the try line with Harry Ward hot on his feels.

But the Portsmouth defence stood strong, the ball was lost and a penalty awarded to the visitors.

Portsmouth kicked for touch only for it to fall short into the arms of Jack Lucker who carved up the defence then released Mercer to complete his hat-trick of tries.