THE Hurricanes remain top of Counties 2 Hampshire after storming to victory against Locksheath Pumas at Gosport on Saturday. 

LOCKSHEATH PUMAS 19, HURRICANES 44

With the match taking an unexpected turn, when the Pumas' pitch was deemed unplayable, the Islanders adapted well and showed great determination to secure a commendable win. 

Despite early pressure from the Pumas, the momentum shifted dramatically after an excellent turnover by Luke Hunter. 

Sandown capitalised with a remarkable 50-22 kick by fly-half Antony Burr, which set a scoring chance — the subsequent rolling maul leading to Zak Chiverton touching down.

Harvey Kirkby extended Sandown's lead with a penalty soon after, which opened the floodgates as the Hurries' power game shone through, in challenging conditions. 

A notable break from Chiverton resulted in his second try of the game, then it was Kirkby, emphasising Hurries' dominance, by powering over for another score. 

The next try was truly bizarre.

Sandown kicked long, the ball touched a Pumas player before going into touch and, quick-thinking Tom Marriott took advantage of indecision and confusion in the Pumas ranks and executed a swift line-out to Matt Miselbach, who fed Hunter, to calmly walk in the try.

The score was 25-0 at half-time.

Fading light and strengthening wind made playing conditions challenging for the Hurries in the second half — but Kirkby added a carbon copy of his first try.

Josh Braham started and finished another try for the Islanders — moving the ball superbly from one side of the pitch to the other to score his first try in a Hurries shirt. 

A nasty head injury to skipper Jacob Jordan followed a Pumas revival.

Despite being down to 13 players, Sandown pulled off a remarkable try at the end by Ash Smith.

Afterwards, Sandown's director of rugby, Damien Marriott, said: "Despite the challenging conditions and setbacks, I'm proud of the resilience shown by the players."