NEW MILTON 18, HURRICANES 41

UP against old foes mid-table New Milton, Sandown and Shanklin went into the match needing victory to reinforce their second place spot in the Hampshire Premier.

The Hurricanes got off to a positive start. A strong maul from the Isle of Wight's top side forced New Milton's defence in retreat in their 22 and, as the forwards broke for the line, scrum-half, Jacob JORDAN found a gap in the defensive line to score.

Isle of Wight County Press:

The Hurricanes (in blue), followed up their home win against Bognor last week with a comfortable victory at New Milton.  Photo: Chris Perfect

Soon after, the Hurricanes scored again, with Tyson finding Jack Wedderkop on a short line, who cut through the defence to score.

Skipper Sam Flux, who had already converted both tries, extended the lead to 17-0 with a penalty.

After New Milton cut the deficit with two penalties, Rob Newton was released and he barrelled his way through three tackles to dot down.

Isle of Wight County Press:

A New Milton try followed just before the interval, but the hosts did themselves no favours after the break by getting two players sin-binned.

A poor clearance ricocheted off several players and the ball fell to fly-half Cameron Mitchell, who side-stepped the final defender and on-rushing defence to score in the corner.

Hurricanes pressure led to full back Ben Sanderson scoring to notch up the team's 50th try of the season.

Following another strong line-out catch and drive, the ball was spun wide and, with an overlap and acres of space to sprint into, Wedderkop dived over for his second try.

New Milton scored a try late.

Sandown and Shanklin's director of rugby, Damion Marriott, was pleased with the Islanders' performance.

"Going away to New Milton is never easy. Looking back through recent results there, we have always struggled," he said.

"We knew their pack is an important part of their game plan, so bulking up ours was important.

"The inclusion of silver fox, Rob Newton, returning Matt Miselbach and Sam Rees, was very important in securing a huge victory of us.

"Our pack raised their game for the occasion, gave our backs the platform to perform and allowed Cam (Mitchell) to again pull the strings to bring in the back three nicely.

"Sanderson was excellent, always on the end of the attacks, causing havoc and really growing in confidence — giving us some huge selection headaches for the coming weeks.

"We have a cup game next Saturday — a great opportunity to show off our strength in-depth and hopefully allow us to look at players in new positions, try out new combinations and even give returning players from injury that all-important game time.

"It will also allow us to keep the squad fresh and fit for the big challenges awaiting us the following week at home to high-flyers Fordingbridge."

Hurricanes: Tyas, Chiverton, Newton, Flux (capt), Seder, Miselbach, Hopper, Rees, Jordan, Mitchell, Wetherick, Tyson, Wedderkop, Miselbach, Sanderson, Subs: Little, Winter, Shannon.

  • Sandown and Shanklin come up against Purley John Fisher in the Hampshire Junior Vase, on Saturday — a fixture that used to take place in the former South West 3 division.