Portsmouth II 36 - 28 Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight endured another narrow defeat at Hilsea, in an entertaining and high-scoring game. Portsmouth’s seconds had shipped two heavy scorelines in their last two outings, but with the Portsmouth first team not in action on this occasion, IW were under no illusions that they would face anything other than a difficult task, and so it proved. However, they had to look to their own shortcomings for not coming away with the spoils in the end.
After the recent storms, there were surprisingly good conditions for running rugby. The tries were flowing from the off, with the visitors struggling to exit from their 22 giving the home side an early penalty which they decided to kick for the corner. From the resulting lineout the home side set up a well structured driving maul to crash over. IW replied quickly, as the forwards set to work with multiple dynamic carries, allowing for quick ball and George Huish to break the line with a superb stretch to place the ball down over the line. He continued his good work by successfully adding the conversion.
With the momentum swung, IW could feel hard done by not to capitalise on their possession and territory, finding themselves being held up over the line no less than three times, notably after a barnstorming run by Sam McQueen. With these opportunities missed, the hosts made the Islanders pay by scoring two quick tries, despite some valiant tackling in defence by Nathan Rolfe. With time slipping away in the half, IW clawed their way back after strong work from the forward pack, allowing co-captain Andrew Brown to crash over from close range. Huish knocked over the conversion and IW trailed narrowly at half-time.
A slower start to the second half ensued, dominated more by the whistle, with poor discipline affecting both teams getting a foothold into the game. The hosts were the first to get onto the scoresheet in the second half. Yet after consistent pressure from IW in the opposition 22, there were one too many penalties with a yellow card being shown and the hosts reduced to 14 men. In another display of superb carrying, Fountain Inn man of the match Luke.Blackman swatted away defenders left, right and centre on his way over the line, leaving IW back within a score.
Soon, the visitors found themselves deep in opposition territory with the referee going to his pocket again to reduce the host to thirteen for a short period. However, the visitors soon had the wind taken out of their comeback, conceding two quick tries to leave Portsmouth leading 36-21. Then it was IW’s turn to have a player sent to the bin. Despite this, they knew they were still a try away from a bonus point and started throwing everything at the Portsmouth defence. Their job was made a little easier by another sin binning to the home side as Alex.Augustus had been a thorn in Portsmouth’s side all game with his ability for quick tap penalties which was a key factor into the sin binning. Such a tap penalty yielded a try for Augustus right on the final whistle. Huish converted, and IW were left with a four-try bonus point, narrowly missing out on another due to losing by eight points. They could console themselves with moving up one place in the league ahead of entertaining Gosport and Fareham II next Saturday. IW seconds host Tottonians IV on the same day.
IW: M.Newnham, S.McQueen, R.Keyes, C.Pudney, K.Blackburn, A.Brown, J.Webster, L.Blackman, A.Augustus, M.Waterer, N.Rolfe, G.Huish, T.Marriott, C.Browne, S.Browne, K.Wallace, D.Bishop, H.Jones-Evans.
