Weakened Petersfield battle to the end on Isle of Wight

Sandown & Shanklin 2nd. XV 58 pts v Petersfield 2nd XV 7 pts

Petersfield 2nds made the trip across the water to play Sandown and Shanklin having conjured together a team that would make the trip, but could only manage to get 14 players onto the island and out onto the pitch, following some late pull outs. With only 14 players, a makeshift set of forwards, uncontested scrum and vast majority of the players playing out of position the task in hand looked difficult.

Unusually ‘Field weren’t to be caught napping following the long trip over and started brightly. From the kick off ‘Field pressurised the Sandown line and were soon able to recycle ball on the ‘Field side and release the speedy back line, quick ball from Holroyd allowed Franks to burst through the Sandown line and release Pryce (back for the weekend for a guest appearance!) who evaded the clutches of several Sandown defenders to score a try under the posts. Doe kicking the extras.

‘Field were 7-0 up and had won the first 10 mins, sadly the next 70 mins didn’t quite continue the upward trend. Sandown quickly bounced back to level the scores making use of their powerful forwards to punch holes in the ‘Field defence and then released their backline. This pattern continued through the first half as the extra man and the Sandown power told on ‘Field’s determined defence, as they dominated the breakdown area and scored 4 more tries.

It wasn’t all one way traffic and several times ‘Field threatened to break through the Sandown line following quick ball secured at the ruck by the forwards, with Doe, Franks and Pryce then combining to open holes in the Sandown defence which couldn’t quite be exploited by the rest of the ‘Field team and the try line went begging several times.

At the beginning of second half ‘Field were caught napping twice in quick succession as another 2 tries were chalked up by Sandown, as they recycled the ball quickly from each kick off and set free their wingers to score. ‘Field then managed to gain some parity as the forwards competed with more aggression at the breakdown with Williams being prominent. And from this the backs were able to create openings again in the Sandown line. ‘Field went close through Deakin, Franks and Pryce but couldn’t quite find the support play to pick up a deserved try.

Into the last quarter ‘Field had held out Sandown since the early tries in the 2nd half with some resolute defence and great tackling in the centre of the field from likes of Pryce, Holroyd and Franks but the constant pressure from the powerful Sandown forwards and backs soon told as they scored a breakaway try.

Some niggling then crept into both sides as ‘Field competed well at the breakdown area which became fractious and heated, and eventually boiled over with couple of Sandown players picking up yellow cards over a 5 minute period. Unbowed ‘Field
kept knocking at the door of the Sandown line with Holroyd and Doe creating quick ball, and only through scrambled defence were attempts from Groves and Doe kept out. ‘Field lost Deakin to injury and with 13 players soon found themselves another 2 tries down as the clock ticked down. Final score 58-7.

Thanks go to all in the team from myself and Sandown for making the long trip over to the island and giving a match, it was always going be difficult task with lack of players and people out of position but everyone kept battling to the end. Just 3 matches left for 2nd team now every Saturday from 26th March to final one on 9th, all of the winnable given similar standings of the teams so here’s to ensuring we have good availability so we can finish the season on a high.