Chineham II 51 v IW II 35 - 20/02/10
Sunday, February 21, 2010 at 5:59PM The Isle of Wight second team were defeated in Basingstoke in a thrilling game full of exciting attacking play. Let down by six players who did not show up for the ferry, the Islanders had to play the whole game with thirteen men, but almost beat the odds to record victory.
As usual this season, the IW gameplan involved keeping the ball in hand and playing open rugby, which suited the extra space on the pitch created by the lack of numbers. This paid dividends early, as quick ruck ball was generated inside the Chineham 22 before Gary Warvill darted down the blindside and evaded two tacklers for the opening score. Kieran Leahy converted, but Chineham were soon to answer with a five-pointer. A penalty goal from distance by Leahy extended the Island’s lead to 10-5 after the first quarter.
Chineham themselves contributed to the entertaining nature of proceedings, regularly running the ball and making use of their considerable size advantage. They fielded a number of big men who ran hard and straight, committing Island defenders and creating space which was exploited. Two quickfire tries saw them into a 15-10 lead, before the Island equalised, as busy scrum-half Sam Tyson hacked on a chip kick and was first to the loose ball to score. The hosts scored again before halftime, and led 20-15 at the break.
The second half saw a cavalcade of scoring as attack overwhelmed defence. Chineham scored straight from the kickoff, but Leahy narrowed the gap to seven with a further penalty goal. However, the IW were now struggling to cope with Chineham’s power, shipping two further tries and a conversion to trail 37-18, with the game seemingly out of reach.
True to recent form, the Island dug deep, with Tom Love and Brad Salter to the forefront in defence. Firstly, the in-form Warvill produced a jinking run which tied the Chineham defence in knots, before making it to the line despite the attentions of several defenders for a converted score. He followed this up with an improbable and sweetly-struck drop goal from near halfway. Then, Lymington Precision Engineers man of the match Brandon Frost-Jones scored the try of the game, fielding the kickoff and speeding from his own 22 past a succession of despairing tackles for a sensational score, his first in senior rugby. Leahy’s conversion left the Island trailing 37-35 with ten minutes to play.
To Chineham’s credit, they responded well, controlling possession for most of the last ten minutes, and scoring two good tries to secure a merited victory. The game was played in a sporting manner and the Island will take several positives from it, as they look forward to three home games in March.
Tomorrow (Saturday) the Island firsts travel to Alresford, while the seconds are next in action at home to Andover on March 6.
IW: Leahy, Owen, T White, Salter, Warvill, Tyson, Byrne, Johnson, Lilly, Quarmby, Frost-Jones, Collinson, Love.
