Indiscipline and turnovers cost Sutton & Epsom dear as they went down 30-17 at old rivals Portsmouth on Saturday.

Sutton tried one quick pass too many on their attacks and Portsmouth proved quick and deadly with the free possession.

Sutton’s early pressure told and, after a tap and go, some great driving at the line finished off with a try for strong-running second row Austin Sheppard, converted by David Saunders.

Portsmouth came straight at Sutton from the kick off and, from a 5m line-out, a catch and drive saw them feed the ball for left wing Bian to score out wide. The conversion was missed.

Then, from another attacking line-out 30m out, quick ball over the top was fed to stand-off Mitch Graham who broke the line and fed full-back Whitley to score another unconverted try out wide.

Only a couple of penalty misses by the hosts kept the score close but, just after the half hour, full-back Whitley again showed great pace to score from 15m out with no one from Sutton getting close. Whitley converted his own try and Portsmouth led 17-7 at half-time.

Sutton started the second half strongly and Saunders converted a penalty within the first minute, only for Whatley to respond with one for Portsmouth.

Then, a dreadful drop-out from the 22 saw Sutton put themselves under pressure and number seven Ian White conceded a silly penalty that cost him 10 minutes in the sin bin. Whtiley’s kick saw Portsmouth stretch their lead to 23-10.

Then, when Graham ran into Sheppard, who was trying to charge a kick-down, he writhed in agony to persuade the ref to hand the Sutton man a yellow card before making a very prompt recovery.

With two Sutton forwards in the bin, Portsmouth forced a 5m scrum and number eight Matt Peters produced a good pick up and drive to score with Whitley adding the extras.

Sutton kept trying to play rugby in the final quarter and Smythe, who had replaced the injured Saunders, charged down a clearing kick and full-back Louis Parker gathered the ball brilliantly off his ankles to speed in for a try from 15m. Simon Green’s conversion completed the scoring.

Sutton, who have lost their opening to London One South matches, will need to improve in a number of areas when they host Beckenham this Saturday (3pm).