Saturday 30 December saw Isle of Wight RFC hold their annual Christmas Charity Match. Present players, past players and exiles from the club were joined by players from the Sandown/Shanklin and Ventnor clubs to raise money to support Luke Orton after his serious injury at the summer Beach 7s.
With a large crowd supporting, over 40 players participated as IW Reds played IW Blues to battle a keenly contested 80 minutes. With team mates on opposite sides, some interesting head to heads kept the crowd enthralled. The final outcome saw Reds take the win by 39 to 15. Among the Blue try scorers were Luke Blackman, Jevon Dry, Ben Ridley and George Huish, while Red scorers included Adam Groves and Ash Smith.
Afterwards, donations in the packed bar and ensuing raffle raised in excess of £1500 towards Luke and his recovery. The club would like to extend a huge thank you to all individuals and local businesses who donated raffle prizes, and to all who organised and supported the day, a showing of the camaraderie and spirit of rugby on the Isle of Wight.
