Isle of Wight II 27-34 Southampton II
In their first match for just over a year, IW seconds played a competitive and entertaining match-up against Southampton, which ended in a narrow defeat for the hosts. The visitors were short-handed but had the assistance of some Fareham Heathens players, and the home side loaned them two players throughout to ensure an evenly contested fixture.
In glorious sunshine, IW started on the front foot and Ravenprint man of the match Nick Blyth exploited a gap down the blind-side to scoot over for a try. Southampton fought back with two tries of their own, but James Webster got IW’s second after an offload by the experienced Colin Stretch. IW defence was a little disjointed at times, and Southampton scored twice more before half-time to lead 22-10.
The second half was scoreless for some time, but IW began to get on top as time went on, with Biffa man of the match Ross Edmunds increasingly influential. Handling errors at unfortunate moments and determined away defence kept IW from adding to their tally. Southampton scored next, against the run of play, but the last 15 minutes were almost all IW. Dan Bishop finished off a spell of attacking pressure by crashing over, and then repeated the dose within a couple of minutes to make the score 27-20 to Southampton.
With IW tails up, the energetic Karl Davey burst down the wing for a memorable score from well inside his own half. Edmunds added the conversion and the scores were now remarkably level. IW had a couple of minutes to find a winning score, but were unable to clear their lines and it was Southampton who finished on the attack. The winning score was controversial as the ball was grounded short and then the player in possession was shunted over the line by his support. However, IW took the decision in good grace as it had been a thoroughly enjoyable, sporting and well refereed match.
IW: Tombleson, Wynyard-Wright, Webster, Scandrett, Blyth, Willetts, Thorne, Davey, D Bishop, Jones, J Bishop, Stretch, Groves ©, Langdon, Edmunds.
