Rugby: Late scare but Isle of Wight nick it with late penalty

FOLLOWING some narrow defeats in recent weeks, it was a return to winning ways for the Isle of Wight in an entertaining match with an exciting finale against Hampshire 1’s bottom club.

However, the visitors belied their lowly position with a gutsy display — within minutes of snatching a result, other than their two bonus points.

Action from Saturday’s Hampshire 1 clash between IW  (in blue) and Winchester II at Wootton.

Winchester scored first with a converted try, inside eight minutes.

It was a wake-up call for the Islanders, who reduced the deficit with a Lewis Murray penalty.

IW were better with scrums — man-of-the-match Martin Newnham in the thick of it.

Eventually, IW scored a try through Martin Smith, who handled superbly, while under pressure, before he touched down in the corner.

IW’s Grant Smith, with the ball, who was among the try scorers against Winchester II at Wootton Recreation Ground.

Winchester struck back with a penalty to level it at half-time.

IW dominated the first 20 minutes after the break — the highlight, a rolling maul which led to an Andy Brown try.

Soon after, Brown deceived Winchester’s backline with a dummy pass and side-step before he crashed over again.

But the game turned drastically on two key moments.

Action from Saturday’s Hampshire 1 clash between IW  (in blue) and Winchester II at Wootton.

IW, looking to score with a blindside overlap, fluffed the final pass, which was picked up by a Winchester centre who, with blistering pace, ran the length of the pitch to dot down.

The same player then scored a virtual carbon copy try — intercepting an Alex Augustus pass to race 90m to score.

The IW, now trailing 24-22, responded well with strong driving play, which led to full-back Connor Grant taking the ball at pace and scoring.

Winchester hit back with an unconverted try to pull level again.

But in a final twist, Murray scored a late penalty. Murray also added the conversions.

IW: Grant, M.Smith, Rann, L.Blackman, Reed, Murray, Marriott, Puzey, McQueen, Newnham, Pudney, Brown, Bennett, Webster, D.Blackman. Subs: G.Smith, Augustus, Groves.