Overton 33-33 IW
IW salvaged a share of the spoils with Overton thanks to a remarkable second-half comeback. Travelling to North Hampshire with a scratch team yet again, the team was able to put their injury list woes to one side and will be buoyed by the end result, being unfortunate in the end not to take maximum points.
IW were under the cosh from the off: the Overton home ground is characterised by an extraordinary slope which the islanders were defending in the first half. The first ten minutes saw the home side cut loose and score two tries with the islanders struggling to repel strong running from the Overton back row. After the third restart the islanders managed to get some momentum and hold some possession. There were some driving runs from Captain Andrew Brown, his centre partner Nathan Rolfe and the evergreen Martin Newnham. This allowed the Islanders to gain some possession with player coach Keith Wallace barrelling over in the opposition 22. Ricky Keyes converted.
The home side again used the slope and ran riot for the remainder of the first half to score a further 3 tries, including a push over try and some strong running from their influential full back and number 8. They now led 33-7, and it looked like being a long afternoon for IW.
The Islanders managed to retrieve the ball from the kickoff as Cam Browne won the ball in the air. This allowed the islanders to pressure the opposition 22 with Karl Davey able to take advantage and reach out to score over the line, Keyes again converting. From the restart, busy flanker James Webster managed to turn the ball over and run 60 metres from his own 22, before being adjudged to have touched the sideline.
With a half time score 33-14 to the home side, the Islanders rolled the dice and introduced the returning George Huish, which yielded instant results. Though hampered by injury recently, Huish's direct running turned the course of the game, aided in no small part by slope advantage, and in spite of the loss of the influential Ricky Keyes to a knock. Strong carries and possession allowed the Rangers to put pressure on the opposition. Overton buckled under the pressure with a mixture of high tackles and breakdown infringements allowing the islanders to gain some control, a total of four yellow cards being issued in the second half.
A break from the island 22 by Browne allowed Huish to chip, chase and score under the posts. This was the first of his hat-trick, with the short-handed Overton defence unable to cope with the IW forward drives allowing Huish to take advantage with two further tries. He converted both of these, and the score was improbably now 33-33.
The final minutes provided additional drama and controversy as further penalties allowed the islanders to kick into the opposition 22. The resulting lineout maul was stopped by some last ditch Overton defence. Keith Wallace was illegally tip tackled but managed to offload the ball to Huish who was in under the posts. However, the referee called back play for an IW penalty, when they would have preferred advantage. With the sun low in his eyes, IW went for the last minute kick at goal from out wide to win the game. Unfortunately, Huish’s effort went to the left of the upright. Though disappointed not to complete the comeback in full, the Islanders will take heart with 3 league points earned for the draw plus a four-try bonus.
IW look forward to welcoming Locks Heath Pumas to Wootton Rec on Saturday.
IW: Young, Wynyard-Wright, Rolfe, Brown ©, C Browne, Rann, Wallace, Webster, Bennett, Davey, J Bishop, Blackburn, Keyes, Turtle, Newnham, Martin, Huish.
