United Services Portsmouth 54-12 Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight were well beaten at Burnaby Road by high-flying USP. IW were heavily depleted with a large number of regular players unavailable due to a wedding and injuries. To fulfil the fixture, an experimental side was picked with numerous players in new positions, with an eye perhaps to next season’s campaign.
A sunny day in Portsmouth created a day for expansive rugby. The game kicked off with early pressure to the Isle of Wight, a combination of strong carries from Ollie Boulter and James Webster and a well controlled scrum allowed co-captain Andrew Brown to crash over for an early try.
This shocked the home side into action with a quick couple of tries, using their speedy backline to make significant yards. Strong defence from full back Nathan Rolfe, hooker turned centre Sam McQueen and Harri Jones-Evans stemmed the flow. The Islanders lost speedy winger Cam Browne with a knee injury, but he was replaced by the rangy Nick Joyce who ably covered the wing in his absence.
USP had a yellow card awarded when former IW player Grant Smith went berserk with repeated infringements. However, they weathered his absence with another try before halftime, at which point USP led 19-5.
After half time the game ran away from the islanders, with the USP back three causing major damage. In spite of this, IW defence was often solid but was not helped when workhorse Ian Bennett was awarded a yellow card for a controversial high scrag tackle, USP making the most of the extra man.
An uncharacteristic jackal penalty from fly-half Harry Elsom enabled scrum half Alex Augustus to settle IW down by keeping possession, with the Islanders managing to hold the ball for an extended period of ten minutes. Brown barged through the USP defence to dot down in the corner for his second try, ably converted by versatile prop Ricky Keyes.
The match ended 54-12, with a scoreline that flattered the admittedly superior home side and belied IW’s spirit. Some highlights included new prop and Biffa man of the match Dan Lythgoe impressing on debut with strong carries and physical defence, whilst Fountain inn man of the match McQueen looked comfortable reverting from Hooker to his inside centre position. IWRFC look forward to hosting their neighbours Ventnor at Wootton Rec on 2nd April at 3pm, in what looks like an enticing affair to conclude the season.
IW: Newnham, Bennett, Keyes, Blackburn, D Bishop, Brown, Webster, Boulter, Augustus, Elsom, C Browne, McQueen, Jones-Evans, Toms, Rolfe. Subs: Lythgoe, N Joyce, Davey.
