IW II 10 v Andover IV 5 - 06/03/10
Sunday, March 7, 2010 at 5:05PM 
A late try gave the Island second team a dramatic victory at sunny Wootton Rec. The scrappy and stoppage-filled nature of the game would not have impressed any neutrals watching, but the closeness of the exchanges and the wholehearted endeavour on show was more impressive.
Andover fielded a big pack, while the Island side was built primarily on pace and youth. Neither side could get the upper hand early on, though the Island held their own with Chris Byrne and debutant Josh Wright impressing in the early skirmishes. When the Island secured clean ball, they looked dangerous and scored the first try. It stemmed from a sizzling break by scrum-half Sam Tyson, who was able to offload to the outstanding Neil Harrison who spun out of a tackle to score. Kieran Leahy missed the conversion.
This concession seemed to galvanise Andover, who laid siege to the Island line. In this period the home defence was magnificent, making a succession of big tackles to keep their line intact, not least Drainmaster man of the match Tom Love and Andy Jones. However, from another series of Andover phases they squeezed over the line for an equalising try. The conversion was missed, and the Island faced the second half with the sun on their backs and optimistic of regaining the lead.
Continuity was hard to come by in the second half, a combination of handling errors, strong defence and the referee’s whistle dominating matters. The Island lost captain Rob Lilly to injury in this period, but were able to overcome this setback and continue to compete well. Both sides forced penalty opportunities while the scores were level, Andover dropping one short, while Leahy and Gary Warvill missed one each.
As the second half went on, the Island began to gain an edge in possession and forced Andover back. Lymington Precision Engineers man of the match Warvill was constantly probing and almost put replacement Steve Sellick in, but the winger was foiled by good cover defence. Other chances were created but went begging, and it appeared that stalemate was to be the Island’s lot.
It was the seventy-eighth minute before the Island finally won the game. They secured good ball in the Andover 22, and a brilliant blindside pass by Warvill found unnoticed fullback Leahy, who was able to get outside his man and score in the left corner despite some desperate cover tackling. Leahy proceeded to strike a post with the conversion, before the referee allowed time for the kickoff. Hearts were in mouths as Andover recovered the restart and battered away at the Island defence in an effort to save the game, but the hosts had defended magnificently for the whole eighty minutes and were not to be denied.
On Saturday the Island seconds host Chineham at Wootton Rec, while the firsts are next in action at Locksheath Pumas on Saturday 20th.
IW: Leahy, Gates, Salter, S Gilpin, Collinson, Warvill, Tyson, Byrne, Love, Lilly, Downer, J Wright, Jones, Frost-Jones, Harrison. Replacements: Finn, Paterson, Brodie, Sellick, Deas.
