Isle of Wight 29-32 Locks Heath Pumas
In a close fought game at Wootton Rec, IW were narrowly defeated by third-placed Locks Heath Pumas.
The home side welcomed back several players who had not been recently available, and knew that they would need all hands on deck against a useful Pumas outfit. After last week’s 33-33 draw at Overton, this was to be another high-scoring encounter. Early home pressure allowed the returning Luke Blackman to cross the line. However in the first three visits to the Pumas 22, this was the only score. Pumas came straight back and converted their try. This they soon followed up with an unconverted score.
Fountain Inn Man of the Match Tom Turtle rounded off pressure on the visitors’ line by barrelling over, George Huish adding the kick. However, by half time Pumas had pulled ahead to a 19-12 lead and Andy White found himself in the sin bin.
The second half was a fiercely fought contest with Pumas edging matters, opting to kick a penalty, then adding a converted try to lead 29-12. The home side pulled nearer with a second try by Blackman. Pumas again had an answer with a second penalty goal, stretching their lead to 32-17.
However the Islanders showed their never say die attitude and pressed the Pumas right to the end with a Andrew Brown try and Huish conversion followed by Player Coach Keith Wallace to crash over. Time ran out on the Islanders’ momentum, and they were left with two bonus points as reward for their efforts. IW scored five tries to the Pumas four, but those second-half penalty goals proved crucial in the final outcome.
Next Saturday, IW visit Winchester II in their final away league game of the season.
Squad: A White, N Rolfe, H Jones-Evans, A Brown, C Browne, G Huish, S Browne, L Blackman, J Webster, E Lynch, D Bishop, A Martin, K Blackburn, T Turtle, M Newnham. K Wallace, A Raunigger, A Young
