Portsmouth II 27-32 Isle of Wight
A dramatic game, on the line to the last play, saw the Isle of Wight power through on this successful mainland visit.
An early George Huish penalty was soon eclipsed as the home side scored an unconverted try. Back came the visitors as Sam McQueen barrelled over with Huish adding the conversion.
The Island then got on the wrong side of a couple of penalties, allowing Portsmouth to first kick three points and then be awarded a penalty try after an illegal last-ditch tackle.
However a tapped penalty close to the home side’s line saw Ricky Keyes offload to Dan Bishop to score under the posts, Huish adding the kick. Unfortunately minds were not focussed at the restart and back came Portsmouth to lead 22-17 at half-time.
The second half started with the home side adding a try, but for the rest of the half it was the Islanders who dominated, aided in no small measure by their rampant set scrum. A push over try from a five metre scrum saw Luke Blackman score.
Time and again the visitors pounded the home line and Keith Wallace, after a number of strong carries, drew the scores level at 27-27. With 10 minutes to go, after the home team’s pack were driven back and taken apart once again, the ref called for uncontested scrums for safety’s sake. This negated a key IW advantage, but Pompey then received a yellow card for a high tackle and the Island continued to pressurise the home line. With the ref calling the final play, the spirited IW side dug deep and were rewarded with a second Blackman try to seal the win.
Biffa man of the match was debutante Jehane Le Grange after an impressive performance at stand-off. IW are on the road again next Saturday away to Andover.
IWRFC: A Young, J Wynyard-Wright, G Huish, S McQueen, C Browne, J Le Grange, N Blyth, L Blackman, A Martin, J Bishop, D Bishop, B Martin, R Keyes, I Bennett, M Newnham. K Wallace, N Rolfe.
