Vets edged out at New Milton.
Sunday, November 6, 2011 at 8:15PM New Milton & District Vets 7 IW Vets 5
In a desperately close encounter in the New Forest, the Isle of Wight veterans side bowed out of the Hampshire Veterans Cup at the quarter-final stage.
The Islanders travelled with a scratch side but almost pulled off what would have been a surprise result. From the off, though there was little between the teams in terms of territory and possession, the IW edged the scrums as the front row of Metcalfe, Lilly and Simpson excelled. Colman Cotter dominated the lineouts, while the midfield defence was watertight as Nick Puckett made an effective return. Captain Neil Brading helped to engineer a couple of line breaks, one of which was supported by Matt Pengelly, who was tap tackled just short of the line. Brading was unable to gather Pengelly’s offload and the best chance of the first half passed. Defences were on top, and scrappy play was the order of the day thanks to numerous handling errors and frequent whistling by the referee. Halftime was signalled with the game still scoreless.
The IW lost impressive flanker Matt Leal to injury, but were confident that victory was within their grasp. This view seemed sound when they broke the deadlock after seven minutes of the second half. Stringing the phases together, they stretched the New Milton rearguard, and when the ball was moved right Andy Puckett galloped over. Crucially, Brading’s conversion was wide in the tricky wind.
It appeared that the IW now could build on this score, but they were caught out by turning the ball over in midfield. New Milton kicked through, recovered the ball and scored beside the posts, converting to take a 7-5 lead.
Now the IW had to chase the game, and as the hosts made a couple of key substitutions, the balance in the forwards swayed. The IW were now struggling to move the ball wide as they had done fruitfully earlier in the game, and despite threatening on occasion, the scoreline remained unchanged to the end of the game.
On Saturday, the Island firsts host New Milton & District, while the seconds entertain Fareham Heathens, both kicking off at 2.30 pm.
IW: Browne, Finn, Pengelly, N Puckett, Harley, N Brading, Craig, Simpson, Lilly, Metcalfe, A Puckett, Jessop, M Leal, Cotter, Tomlinson. Replacements: G Brading, McNamara, Anthony, Lee.
