ISLE OF WIGHT WIN BRAGGING RIGHTS OVER VENTNOR IN WATCOMBE BOTTOM DERBY WIN

The Isle of Wight completed a deserved double over Ventnor in Hampshire Counties 3 when their 1st XVs met at Watcombe on Saturday (16th December). Ventnor kicked off, and it was Harrison Marsh and Guy Entwistle who set the tone with some hard tackling which put the home team on the front foot from which Ben Cooper slotted a penalty. The Isle of Wight struck back quickly when some excellent line kicking gave them position and were able to power over for two tries – the second containing a very obvious knock-on. Dan Lythgoe came on for the ageless Tristan Price and was prominent in Ventnor’s defensive line in which Jason Coltham and the ubiquitous Lewy Morton were outstanding. Ventnor’s kicking game began to fade after early promise from Cooper, Luke Butler and Jake Babington, and the game became a scrappy affair with the visitors always edging the territory. Half time: Ventnor 3-10 Isle of Wight Ventnor got lucky at the start of the 2nd half when Lines scored an interception try from deep inside his own half despite the referee playing a penalty advantage for the visitors. Andy Teague had to leave the field with a head knock and James Green came on to add some power to Ventnor’s forward pack in which skipper Ben Savill never took a backward step. With a bit of typical derby niggle setting in, Entwistle received a yellow for someone else’s verbals and – bizarrely – the outstanding George Collett was then shown a red for an incident that even the Isle of Wight players told the referee that he was innocent of. With a man down and time running out, Ventnor started taking risks and the Isle of Wight were able to score three more tries which probably offered an unbalanced perspective of the game without taking anything away from a deserved win by the Isle of Wight, who continue to battle for league honours. Full time: Ventnor 8-32 Isle of Wight Ventnor:  Collett, H.Marsh, Price, Teague, Coltham, Savill (capt), L.Morton, Entwistle, Souter, Cooper, E.Blake, Butler, Lines, Cocks, Babington. Subs: Lythgoe, Fairman, Gray Isle of Wight: Newnham, Bennett, Keyes, Martin, Brown, Webster, Lynch, Blackmaqn (c), Lockhart, Le Grange, Rolfe, Rakett, Huish, Jones-Evans, Ward Subs: Puzzey, Cameron-Browne, McQueen Earlier in the day, Ventnor 2nd XV drew 17-17 with Ventnor 2nd XV