Isle of Wight 33-38 Havant III
IW were agonisingly close to their first win since September in a pulsating Counties Two encounter at Wootton Rec. Given the respective league campaigns of the two sides, visitors Havant were strong favourites to take the spoils and did so, but were put to the pin of their collar by a battling home side in a sportingly contested match-up.
Havant went on the offensive early on, and were on the board inside five minutes with a well constructed score. IW were determined that this would not be the catalyst for another heavy defeat, and cancelled this out after 10 minutes. Their much improved lineout delivered perfect attacking ball off the top from David Blackman, and a pre-planned move saw his brother Luke barrel over for a fine score, converted by George Huish.
With ideal conditions for rugby, both teams proved themselves adept at both structured and unstructured attacking play, and the tries flowed throughout the first half. Havant regained their lead but IW were soon celebrating again, as Huish ran a hard line off quick ball and broke through on 20 minutes, IW now trailing 14-12. However, Havant began to gain the upper hand, posing threats in the tight and with plenty of pace in the wider channels. The visitors also showed a clinical edge in the red zone, whereas IW had as many visits to the Havant 22 but often left empty-handed. They added two unconverted tries to ensure their try bonus after 35 minutes and lead 24-12.
It was then the mainlanders’ turn to score off first phase, though from a line-out that was a long way from being straight – IW were caught flat-footed as the Havant fly-half showed exceptional pace to race through. Now 19 points behind, it was important for IW to score next and before half-time, outstanding skipper Luke Blackman obliging with his second. Havant were 31-19 ahead at the break.
The scoring rate slowed a little in the second half but the excitement levels of the loyal IW supporters rose, as their forwards gained an edge in open play and the team played some fine rugby, with Cameron Browne excelling in attack and Red Funnel man of the match Harri Jones-Evans landing some crunching tackles. Centre Sam McQueen applied the finishing touch to a flowing move with a punishing carry to secure the try bonus for his team, and on 54 minutes IW took the lead. Relentless pressure on the Havant line was rewarded when hard-running hooker and Biffa man of the match George Butler crashed over for a well-earned try. Huish added the conversion, his fourth, and IW were 33-31 ahead.
The points were very much up for grabs at this stage, and Havant showed their mettle by setting up camp in the IW 22 again. Though initially stopped, the visitors were patient and were able to score under the posts to wrest back the lead with 15 minutes remaining. IW summoned up one more sustained attack as normal time expired, and got within two metres of the try line but were turned over by Havant’s defence and would not have another chance to score. The home side missed out on the victory but consoled themselves a little with two losing bonus points, and more importantly a rousing performance to take forward to Chichester on 15 February.
IW: Ward, Marsh, Browne, McQueen, Wynyard-Wright, Huish, Rolfe, Hart, Butler, Newnham, Blackburn, B Martin, J Bishop, D Blackman, L Blackman ©. Replacements: Jones, Jones-Evans, Thorne.
