Isle of Wight 35-17 Fawley
Isle of Wight delivered one of their better performances this season to comprehensively beat title contenders Fawley at Wootton Rec. Delivering a power-packed effort up front and defending resolutely when necessary, IW weathered a Fawley storm before the break and took charge of the contest in the second half.
It was a cold, sunny day for the match, with a strong wind backing Fawley in the first half. Yet IW started very well, winning the tight exchanges and playing direct rugby which the visitors struggled to cope with, being forced in repeated infringements at the breakdown as IW jackalled effectively. It was difficult to gain ground into the breeze, but the opening score came early as IW set up a maul, and the experienced Dan Tennant spied a gap down the blindside. He barrelled clear and bounced off the last man’s tackle to score in the corner. George Huish landed a superb touchline conversion.
The pattern of the game was now established, IW having more possession and carrying hard at the heart of the Fawley defence, Andrew Brown and the evergreen Andy White prominent. However, Fawley looked slick in attack when given the opportunity, and scored a fine backs’ try to level the scores at 7-7. The period before half-time was all Fawley, as they set up camp in the IW half and seemed likely to score on a number of occasions, but were repelled by superb Island defence time and again. Half-time saw the score unchanged, but IW looked well set with the elements now in their favour.
Sure enough, IW made the game theirs in the second half. It was by no means all about the forwards, as shown by the excellent lead try, Gary Warvill gliding over after a half-break by Huish. Fawley had little opportunity to bite back, and IW scored again on 55 minutes, as their routinely dominant scrum allowed the customarily excellent Luke Blackman to barge over.
Tennant had by now sustained a broken nose and departed the fray, but his replacement Sam McQueen made an impact and scored the bonus point try on 65 minutes. With Huish kicking expertly and Keith Wallace excelling around the park, IW were not finished and Fountain Inn man of the match Blackman registered his second, stretching the lead to 35-7. Huish converted all five tries.
Fawley deserve credit for battling to the end and finished the game well, scoring two tries in stoppage time through some impressive handling and pace. Though IW were disappointed to finish the game in this manner, they reflected on a fine win where they had executed their game plan for most of the 80 minutes and played some exciting rugby when the opportunity was there. The firsts have a free weekend next, before travelling to Portsmouth II on 26 February. The second team go to Basingstoke on Saturday next, 19 February.
IW: Warvill, Rolfe, Huish, White, C Browne, Waterer, Augustus, Keyes, Tennant, Newnham, Blackburn, Brown, Wallace, Webster, L Blackman. Replacements: McQueen, D Bishop, S Browne.
