RUGBYSandown and Shanklin 29, New Milton 5
HURRICANES secured their play-off place for promotion to London South West 4 with a victory which was considerably less emphatic than the scoreline suggests.
In front of a large crowd, it was Sandown and Shanklin who dominated the opening proceedings. That domination quickly turned into points as winger Matt Jones intercepted a pass from the New Milton centre and raced to score in the corner.
The Sandown forwards had the better of their mainland opponents in both the lineout and the scrum. From a lineout in the New Milton 22, the ball was fed quickly to stand off Richard Booth.
He instigated a slick backs move, which ultimately ended in Wales feeding Luke Chandler to run unopposed into the corner.
The Hurries then seemed to take their feet off the gas and allowed New Milton to gain more possession and territory but the half ended with no further score, 10-0 in Sandown’s favour.
The second half started much as the first had ended, with New Milton on top. From a lineout the New Milton forwards quickly secured the ball and fed the blind side flanker who sneaked over in the corner. The conversion was missed but New Milton kept the pressure on and again got close to the Hurricanes’ line.
However, Sandown and Shanklin managed to swing the game in their favour when Natwest man of the match Chris Skelley turned defence into attack with a huge tackle on his opposite number.
The Hurricanes cleared their lines and, from the resulting lineout, turned over the opposition in the centres. The ball was quickly spun wide, where Wightlink man of the match Will Baxandall outpaced the covering defence for a third try, converted by Danny Thomas.
This proved the be the end of the resistance from New Milton, and the Hurries showed their dominance with two further tries from Thomas and Joe Dove, the latter converted by Thomas for a 29-5 victory.
Hurricanes now face Old Whitgiftians RFC from Surrey in a play-off tomorrow (Saturday) to decide who takes the final spot in London South West Four next season.
After their heart-breaking one-point loss in the same fixture last year, the Island side will be going all out to win. Kick off is at 3pm.