Isle of Wight RFC

Romsey 20  Isle of Wight 13

In a game where the weather hampered both sides, the Islanders’ winning run came to an end at Romsey, though their much changed team battled through to gain a losing bonus point at the death.

With rain a constant companion, the first quarter of the game was affected with regular handling stoppages. A penalty by George Huish after 15 minutes was the first score. This seemed to galvanise Romsey as they attacked up the slope and, after a delay, were awarded a try. In another attack, a hacked on ball was grounded by the home side for a half time score of 10 – 3 to the home side.

Romsey seemed to be quickest out of the blocks after the restart and pressured the visitors, claiming a try for a 15-3 lead. IW responded quickly, as a dominant five metre scrum allowed Luke Blackman to bring the visitors to within seven points. Back came the home side to score their fourth try and leave the Islanders fighting to claim a vital point.

Not for the first time this season, IW battled to the end, assisted by the one man bomb squad and Biffa man of the match Dave Metcalfe’s cameo off the bench. They were rewarded after sustained pressure on the Romsey line saw Blackman crash over for his second, bringing IW within a score. But with 90 seconds left on the clock, the visitors maintained possession to see out the game.

There are no matches next weekend, with both IW teams hosting Christchurch at Wootton Rec on Saturday 4 November.

Team: S Browne, J Wynyard-Wright, N Rolfe, H Jones-Evans, A Young, G Huish, N Blyth, L Blackman, J Webster, J Bishop, K Blackburn, R Tulloch, R Keyes, S McQueen, J Willetts, K Wallace, D Metcalfe