IW II 24-26 Andover III
Isle of Wight seconds were narrowly defeated in a rearranged and eventful Hampshire Three encounter, in which the lead changed hands several times in a frantic second half.
With their firsts and seconds not in action, Andover travelled with a strong squad but faced a stiff diagonal breeze in the first half. The teams seemed very well matched with no score in the opening half-hour, a combination of good defence and errors on both sides preventing any real scoring opportunities, as Biffa man of the match Nathan Rolfe stood out. There followed the low point of the game from an IW point of view, as a high tackle indirectly led to a serious leg fracture for David Blackman. The no. 8 was making his comeback from injury in this game, but his season now ends prematurely and everyone at the club wishes him a full recovery.
The sinbinning of the Andover tackler was taken advantage of by IW, as a clever blindside move saw wily scrum-half Dave Hanson cross for the game’s opening score. This was swiftly followed by a levelling up in numbers, as IW captain Ian Puzey saw yellow. His team led 5-0 at half-time, but facing the breeze in the second 40.
If the first half had lacked in tries, the second half made up for it. Andover had always looked threatening with clean possession, and scored two good tries in the first eight minutes of the second half to take a 14-5 lead. With the wind now against them, IW looked unlikely to win from this position, but there were more twists to come. The referee had taken a creditably hard line on dissent from both teams, and when a vocal Andover replacement questioned a decision against his team, the visitors were marched back ten metres twice in quick succession. When this sanction was still not heeded by the player and he continued to argue, he was sent off and his team were down to 14 for the rest of the game.
IW were boosted now and powered back into the game, their pack gaining the edge and setting up Luke Blackman to burst over for two tries in the matter of minutes. Harry Rumens converted the first of these, and IW now led 17-14, but Blackman was promptly yellow carded for illegally thwarting an Andover attack, and the sides were both down to 14. An IW move then broke down and the mainlanders were able to race clear for a converted try to regain the lead.
The drama was not yet finished, IW continuing to play with purpose as replacements Gary Warvill and Fountain Inn man of the match Harri Bollywood Jones-Evans made an impact. IW also asserted scrum dominance as the game aged, and were soon celebrating a penalty try after pushing the setpiece 15 metres before Andover infringed on the goal line. However, Andover were ever dangerous and constructed another good try to regain the lead with four minutes left. IW needed to score once more, but could not get within striking distance in the time remaining and had to be content with the losing bonus point after a memorable tussle.
IW II are next in action at home to Overton on Saturday, while the first team host Fawley. Both games at Wootton Rec. kick off at 2.30 pm.
IW: Rolfe, C Browne, Marriott, L Blackman, Wynyard-Wright, Rumens, Hanson, Puzey ©, McQueen, Newnham, Jones, J Bishop, Stretch, Nobes, D Blackman. Replacements: Murray, Warvill, Jones-Evans.
