Isle of Wight maintained their maximum-points start to the season with a 9-try attacking display away at Ellingham & Ringwood II on Saturday (3rd October).
Isle of Wight eventually ran out winners, although they were forced to recover from a rocky opening spell after briefly falling behind.
IW started at a furious pace and quickly engineered the opening try for full-back George Huish, who added the conversion for a 0-7 lead.
A series of errors then allowed Ellingham & Ringwood back into the contest, with their rapid right winger slicing through for 2 tries to put the hosts 12-7 ahead.
Rather than being rattled, IW simplified their approach and soon began to take control. Flanker Tom Turtle finished a flowing move to restore the visitors’ advantage at 12-14 before Huish crossed for his 2nd try of the afternoon (12-21).
Captain Luke Blackman then added the bonus-point try (12-28) as IW increasingly dominated, although they were denied further scores after being held up or knocking on close to the home line on several occasions.
Half Time: Ellingham & Ringwood II 12-28 Isle of Wight
IW resumed where they had left off after the break, with debutant George Collett producing a superb long pass over the covering defence for Huish to complete his hat-trick (12-35).
The flying full-back soon crossed again for his 4th try (12-42), putting clear daylight between the sides.
Ellingham & Ringwood refused to fold and applied sustained pressure close to the IW line. The visitors then incurred the referee’s displeasure, with Turtle and Jacob Wynyard-Wright both shown yellow cards in quick succession.
The hosts were awarded a penalty try (19-42), but Huish was far from finished. Following sustained work from the IW forwards, he broke through to claim an extraordinary 5th try of the afternoon (19-49).
Ellingham & Ringwood responded again and, despite a desperate covering effort from Fin Vickers which resulted in another IW yellow card, the hosts crossed for their 4th try to secure a bonus point of their own (26-49).
IW’s attacking game was now in full flow, with their offloading repeatedly opening gaps in the home defence. Turtle crossed for his 2nd try (26-56) before centre Harri Jones-Evans completed the scoring with the visitors’ 9th (26-63).
Huish converted all 9 Isle of Wight tries to accompany his 5 touchdowns, finishing with a remarkable personal haul of 43 points.
Full Time: Ellingham & Ringwood II 26-63 Isle of Wight
The bonus-point victory leaves IW with maximum points from their opening 2 matches and alongside Alton and Fawley at the top of the table.
Isle of Wight: Huish, Marsh, Jones-Evans, Sanderson, Wynyard-Wright, Ward, Vickers, Newnham, McQueen, Thorne, J Bishop, Collett, Hart, Turtle, L Blackman, Amer, Young, Evans.
Man of the Match: George Huish.
IW now begin a run of 2 home fixtures, starting with Winchester III at Wootton Rec this Saturday (10th October) at 15:00.
