The second team got their season under way at Ventnor Middle School last Saturday with a comprehensive but plucky defeat. Many plusses will be taken from the game, including the presence of several debutants in our lineup. The scoreline was also very harsh on us even though we were well beaten up front.
 
It was a cracking day though a bit hot for the taste of some of the forwards - 26C apparently! The phenomenal slope on the middle school pitch also was kind of fun to play on. The Island were let down by a number of late cryoffs - the 2nd team captain would like to request the odd Saturday morning free of such annoyances. Eventually we had 13, and Ventnor were good enough to loan us a prop in order to allow contested scrums. So it was 15 against 14.
 
The Island were generally overpowered in the forwards though effort was not wanting all round. The presence of regular backs Leahy and Dalchow in the engine room indicated the shortage of forwards available. Meanwhile, Ventnor had a number of experienced campaigners and some big runners which taxed the IW. After some scrappy early exchanges, Ventnor executed a good blindside move to open the scores, and then added another from an Island error. Struggling to get out of our half, a third try followed after 25 minutes.
 
The spell before halftime was by far the IW’s best, as we took over the match. The lineout was operating well thanks to chief jumper Neil Harrison, lifters Ian Puzey and Ali Downer, and hooker Tiger Byrne. From a loose lineout ball, returning wing Eric Wright fastened on the pill and raced clear from inside his own half. A Scouse shimmy did for the fullback and the IW were on the scoreboard. Gary Warvill, who kicked well throughout, added the conversion to narrow the gap to 17-7.
 
Shortly after that, the IW played some tremendous continuity rugby to get right to the Ventnor line. After the ball was recycled, impressive centre Nick Phillips crossed the whitewash but was denied the try by a brilliant steal from a covering defender. This key event heralded halftime.
 
The IW faced into the second half believing that the game was within reach, but would soon wilt as the extra man and punishing scrummaging took their toll. Injuries mounted but everyone played on. Ventnor added three more tries, though two of these were highly dubious - one because of a double movement and another when they were allowed to take two quick taps in a row. That said, they had other chances to score and the referee had a generally good game so we shouldn’t be too bitter.
 
Young scrum-half Sam Tyson had a fine debut considering he was under a lot of pressure at all times. Another newbie Andy Jones also impressed in the physical stakes. But thanks to a number of crunching hits and his general workrate, Ian Puzey deserved the Lymington Precision Engineers man of the match award. As news filtered through of the first team’s win, everyone’s mood improved and we can now look to Alresford at home next week!
 
IW: Paterson, Phillips, Warvill, Wright, Heighway, Tyson, Puzey, Byrne, Mervin, Downer, Leahy, Jones, Dalchow, Harrison