First Match of the 2017-18 Season (South Hants City vs HMS Excellent)

New season, new range, new name, same mugs!

Portsmouth City, now incorporated into South Hants Rifle Club, had their first match on Thursday shooting under our new name, South Hants (City).  In preparation for this, we spent a bit of time getting the range tidied up for our guests, HMS Excellent.  Unfortunately our main range isn't quite ready yet, but work continues and we look forward to debuting our 4-point range soon!

Here's how we shot:

South Hants (City) - 485 I. Cooper (96) J. Rowe (99) S. Hart (97) L. Haskett (94) G. Scruton (99) A. Nevatte (94) P. Upchurch (92)

HMS Excellent A - 475 J. Atkins (94) T. Dugan (91) W. Dugan (94) E. Metcalfe (95) T. Thompson (95) N. Benstead (97)

A solid win to start the season with a couple of almost-tonnes. :-)  We look forward to our first away match on Monday against current champions, Sarisbury.

Shoulder-to-Shoulder Catch Up

There's been a bit of a delay in getting these scores out to people.  Sorry for the wait.  Since the Sarisbury match, City has had a few further matches and we've now finished our the 2016-17 shoulder-to-shoulder season (which will also be our last season at the Hambrook St range).  Our performance was a bit of a mixed bag of results if we're honest but it's not without its highlights.  Here's how we did.

Havant A - 491 A. Morley (99) A. Perry (99) J. Alexander (98) J. Allsop (98) L. Hanna (95) M. Nevatte (97) M. Reynolds (95) T. Brown (99)

Portsmouth City - 485 A. Nevatte (97) G. Scruton (99) I. Cooper (98) J. Rowe (95) T. Sommerville (96) R. Ashman (94) S. Hart (95)

It's fair to say that we were outmatched on this one.  We weren't quite able to get a full team together but congratulation to Havant for a very respectable winning score.  A small note of congratulations should also go to Tom Sommerville for his first counted-in score.

So by this point, we'd shot 10 matches and lost 4.  I wish I could say we turned it around after this, but there was one more defeat to come...

This time we really were reduced in numbers and could only muster a team of 6.  It was a close match... but didn't go our way.

Portsmouth Railway - 484 J. Ring (98) M. Carter (92) C. Coles (99) C. Richards (96) N. Toms (96) N. Perman (95) K. Hardyman (95)

Portsmouth City - 482 I. Cooper (98) A. Nevatte (94) G. Scruton (96) J. Rowe (97) P. Upchurch (91) S. Hart (97)

So where our defeat against Sarisbury meant we had to say goodbye to any hopes we had for winning the championship this year, these defeats against Havant and Railway meant we had to say goodbye to achieving runner-up, as we had last year.

Thankfully, the news gets better for City from here.

Portsmouth City - 484 I. Cooper (99) A. Nevatte (93) L. Haskett (96) P. Upchurch (90) S. Hart (98) J. Rowe (98) R. Ashman (89) T. Sommerville (88)

West Meon A - 480 G. Stone (89) P. Hannington (95) M. Atkins (95) G. Dixon (92) A. Smith (100) D. Corbett (98)

So we got back on the winning track but congratulations need to go to A. Smith of West Meon for his ton.

Wickham had started very strong this season but, like City, had encountered a slump mid-season.  This was a home match for City, so we had the advantage and thankfully, we pressed it.

Portsmouth City - 491 J. Rowe (99) A. Nevatte (99) I. Cooper (99) G. Scruton (98) S. Hart (95) P. Upchurch (90) L. Haskett (96)

Wickham A - 483 R. Long (95) T. Malleson (97) T. Caister (98) S. Dismore (98) M. Barnes (93) J. Willsher (95)

A very strong showing from many of the team.  No tonnes, but those 99s are nothing to be sniffed at.  Our final match was against HMS Excellent and while our record against them is good, City had lost its last two away matches.

HMS Excellent A - 474 J. Atkins (97) T. Dugan (93) W. Dugan (96) I. Andrews (90) T. Thompson (93) E. Metcalfe (93) I. Thomson (95)

Portsmouth City - 487 G. Scruton (100) A. Nevatte (95) J. Rowe (100) I. Cooper (95) M. Simmons (92) R. Ashman (94) P. Upchurch (93) S. Hart (97)

So Portsmouth City finished the season on a high note!  Congratulations to G, Scruton and J. Rowe on their tonnes, especially to Jonny, for whom this was his first Portsmouth & District shoulder-to-shoulder ton!

So here were the overall stats for Portsmouth City's 2016-17 season:

9 wins, 5 losses (last season was 11 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses)

Team Average: 487.1 (last season was 486.7)
See all the results here.

Further results to come...

City vs HMS Excellent

Last Thursday marked City's first match against HMS Excellent in a few seasons, after HMS Excellent A were promoted to Division 1 at the end of last season.  It was a home match and here were the scores:

Portsmouth City - 486 I. Cooper (97) J. Rowe (98) A. Nevatte (97) G. Scruton (96) P. Upchurch (93) S. Hart (98) L. Haskett (95)

HMS Excellent - 463 J. Atkins (94) T. Dugan (90) W. Dugan (95) E. Metcalfe (93) I. Thomson (91) B. Witts (87)

So City finally gets a win on the board although the team average wasn't helped by this match and we can only hope that we bring our A game again next week's rivals - Havant.

It was great to see HMS Excellent again in Division 1 and we look forward to the away match on the Tipner range later in the season.

Arthur Lee Cup 2016 (Local Final): City vs Railway

This evening was the local final of the Arthur Lee Cup.  Last year, we reached the local final but were narrowly beaten by Fareham.  This year we managed to get to the final once again but were up against Portsmouth Railway Rifle Club.  The match was kindly officiated by Wayne Dugan of HMS Excellent Rifle Club and was held at Havant.

This match is a little different from our normal shoulder-to-shoulder matches.  This was teams of 6 (instead of the usual 8), shooting 2 cards each (instead of 1), and unlike our other competitions, every team member's scores counted.  Here's how it went:

Portsmouth Railway - 1147 J. Ring (98, 97) M. Carter (93, 94) C. Richards (97, 97) C. Coles (97, 96) N. Perman (94, 93) K. Hardyman (94, 97)

Portsmouth City - 1163 M. Nevatte (98, 98) S. Hart (95, 100) G. Scruton (97, 94) I. Cooper (99, 95) A. Nevatte (94, 100) R. Ashman (96, 97)

So Portsmouth City goes on to represent Portsmouth & District this year against Sarisbury, who will represent Southampton & District.  Well done to Sarah Hart and Adam Nevatte for their tonnes.

The Duttson Cup final comes down to graduated gauging... against Sarisbury... again!

On Tuesday, members of the Portsmouth City squad took part in the semi-final and final of the Duttson Cup.  This particular cup dates back to 1936, when it was donated by William Noel Duttson, the then-president of Portsmouth & District Rifle League (and also director of Portsmouth Brewery on Admiralty Road).

William Noel Duttson (1935)

This year it was Fareham, Portsmouth Railway, Sarisbury and Portsmouth City through to the semi-finals and, as always, we had both the semis and the final on the same evening and all on a neutral range, the Tipner indoor range, kindly provided by the HMS Excellent Rifle Club.  By virtue of drawing names from a bag, PCRC first faced Portsmouth Railway.

Here's how the semi-finals went:

Portsmouth City - 389 I. Cooper (99) A. Nevatte (99) M. Nevatte (97) G. Scruton (94)

Portsmouth Railway - 372 J. Nicholson (91) N. Toms (93) N. Perman (94) J. Stockham (94)

Fareham - 384 P. Randall (96) T. Read (97) D. Shepperd (95) D. Spendlove (96)

Sarisbury - 387 G. Barber (95) T. Gleed (96) M. Guille (98) P. Pearce (98)

This brought about the same final as we had last year: Portsmouth vs Sarisbury.  Last year it came down to graduated gauges; this is where the two teams' scores using standard gauges come out as the same - graduated gauges put the shots under a harsher spotlight and tell us who came closer to centre.

Portsmouth were the victors last year but would it be the case this year too?

Portsmouth City - 390 (.25G score - 384) I. Cooper (97) (96) A. Nevatte (99) (96) M. Nevatte (97) (95) G. Scruton (97) (97)

Sarisbury - 390 (.25G score - 389) G. Barber (98) (97) T. Gleed (95) (95) M. Guille (98) (98) P. Pearce (98) (98)

So, as with the Portsmouth & District shoulder-to-shoulder league this year, Portsmouth had to settle for second place to Sarisbury.  Well done, Sarisbury.

The Duttson Cup has taken pride of place on our trophy shelves in the last few years and we'll be sorry to see it leave us... but we'll get it back next year!

Current 1946 Duttson Cup Trophy replacing the 1936 trophy presumed lost during the war

Overall Portsmouth City hasn't done too badly in this competition, in fact we were the first ever winners of it!

Inaugural Winners of the Duttson Cup (1936).  The captain, H. E. G. Abrams is sitting; standing left to right is L. G. German, H. V. Young, and E. S. German.

1936 - Portsmouth City

1937 - HMS Victory

1938 - HMS Excellent

Suspended during World War II (1939-1945)

1946 - Portsmouth City Police

1947 - Civil Defence

1949 - Portsmouth City

1950 - Portsmouth City

1951 - Havant

1952 - Portsmouth City

1953 - Portsmouth City

1954 - Portsmouth City

1955 - Portsmouth City

1956 - Portsmouth City

1957 - Portsmouth City

1958 - Portsmouth North End

No Competition (1959)

1960 - Portsmouth City "B"

1961 - Portsmouth City

1962 - Royal Marines "B"

1963 - HMS Collingwood

1964 - Portsmouth City

1965 - Portsmouth City

1966 - Portsmouth City

1967 - Portsmouth City

1968 - Portsmouth City

1969 - Royal Marines

1970 - Fareham

1971 - HMS Excellent

1972 - Havant

1973 - Havant

1974 - Havant

1975 - HMS Excellent

1976 - Havant

1977 - Havant

1978 - Havant

1979 - Havant

1980 - Havant

1981 - HMS Nelson

1982 - HMS Nelson

1983 - HMS Nelson

1984 - HMS Nelson

1985 - HMS Nelson

1986 - HMS Nelson

1987 - HMS Nelson

No Competition (1988-1991)

1992 - Portsmouth City

1993 - Portsmouth City

1994 - HMS Excellent

1995 - HMS Nelson

1996 - Chichester

1997 - Sarisbury

No Competition (1998)

1999 - Havant

2000 - Sarisbury

2001 - HMS Excellent

2002 - Portsmouth Railway

2003 - Havant

2004 - HMS Excellent

2005 - Sarisbury

2006 - Havant

2007 - Sarisbury

2008 - Havant

2009 - Havant

2010 - Havant

2011 - Sarisbury

2012 - Portsmouth City

2013 - Portsmouth City

2014 - Portsmouth City

2015 - Sarisbury

For those of your keeping a tally, PCRC (21 wins), Havant (15), HMS Nelson (8), HMS Excellent (6), Sarisbury (6), Royal Marines (2), Chichester (1), Civil Defence (1), Fareham (1), HMS Victory (1), HMS Collingwood (1), North End (1), Police (1)