IW 5-22 Romsey
Isle of Wight’s unbeaten Wootton Rec run of 16 games and 13 months came to an end at the hands of a resurgent Romsey team. The visitors defended well for the whole 80 minutes and played some scintillating attacking rugby, while IW were not short of spirit and effort but never carried the same threat as their opponents.
For their first home game of 2023, IW had to field without a few injured regulars, most notably co-captain and top try scorer Luke Blackman. Yet it is doubtful if even the prolific Blackman would have been able to reverse this result, as Romsey were deserving winners of a hard-fought tussle in cold conditions. The teams would be well matched throughout, with little between them in general play and a scoreless opening quarter, brought to an end by a Romsey penalty goal.
IW carried directly and retained possession well in the first quarter, with captain Andy Brown and Fountain Inn man of the match Aidan Martin making dents in the Romsey rearguard. Yet the mainlanders defended aggressively and eventually began to force errors from IW, wresting back their share of possession. IW were not helped by the malfunction of their usually reliable lineout, with a deceptive cross wind causing issues for throwers on both teams. Romsey also kicked well when given the opportunity. It became clear that they were a serious danger when moving the ball wide, and they finished the half in great form, scoring two tries to lead 15-0 at the break.
Strong words from the IW leadership at half-time stung the team into a response, with their home record on the line. While the hosts battled to a man, they still couldn’t get the Romsey defence to crack and struggled to build sustained pressure. Meanwhile, Romsey continued to sparkle out wide and could have scored further tries had the final pass gone to hand. Their scrum was under pressure from the IW eight, but was secure enough to retain possession and clear their lines or move the ball by hand.
IW finally opened their account with the clock approaching 70 minutes. They had forced Romsey into conceding a series of penalties and turned down the kick at goal, showing great patience with Biffa man of the match Dave Hanson conducting a string of phases before replacement Keith Wallace barged over. Now trailing by 10 points, IW were soon back on the attack and a turnaround seemed possible, but Romsey were able to turn over possession. They fittingly had the last word, moving the ball wide to their winger, probably the fastest player to grace the Rec in several seasons. Though IW’s scramble defence had just about limited him on a few occasions, the Romsey speedster raced clear for the game’s final score.
Romsey rated this their best performance of the season and are clearly a different proposition from the team that started the campaign. The same could be said for IW, who do not want for effort or scrum power, but were undone by errors in this game and will hope to rediscover their mojo next Saturday at Fareham Heathens. The second team, after receiving yet another walkover, also make the trip to Fareham.
IW: S Browne, C Browne, Jones-Evans, Rann, Rolfe, Huish, Hanson, Newnham, McQueen, Keyes, Blackburn, Martin, Pudney, Webster, Brown ©. Replacements: D Bishop, Wallace, Mitchell.
