ALRESFORD 20, HURRICANES 22

SANDOWN and Shanklin recovered from a horror start away at Alresford to come away from their Hampshire Premier match with another vital win in the race for the title.

A tentative and slow start by the Islanders led to an error by the normally reliable Darren Carew who, in his attempt to clear from the back of the scrum, saw the ball claimed by an Alresford player, who scored.

Hurricanes looked unsettled as the home side built up territorial pressure, but their scrum held and even drove back a very strong Alresford pack.

However, with the hosts’ persistence and some missed tackles, Alresford were in again for their second score — still within the first quarter, with the try converted.

At 12-0, things went from bad to worse when a miss-called line out was picked off by one of the Alresford forwards, who scored to extend the lead to 17-0.

With ten minutes of the first half remaining, Damian Seder was substituted for a knock, which put club captain Sam Flux into the fray.

Following the restart, the Islanders drove the maul from just inside the Alresford half to well within the opposition 22, and a few phases later, the ball was spun to prop Ben Shannon, who barged his way over the try line to start their incredible comeback.

Strong carrying by stand-in captain Sam Rees and Carew forced play into the Alresford 22 again and, following a few more phases by the forwards and a break by fly-half Sam Tyson, the ball found its way to Shannon for his and the Hurricanes’ second score, converted by Tom Borrer, to pull the deficit to five points at half-time.

After the break, the re-energised Hurricanes started the better, only for Alresford to convert a penalty.

However, Sandown and Shanklin gained territorial possession and made headway with a good line out maul, driven deep into the Alresford 22.

Following some strong carrying phases, the ball was eventually fed to winger, Owen Williams, who sprinted into the corner for the Hurricanes’ third try.

With three points behind and ten minutes remaining, play became frenetic, with Alresford’s defence desperate to stop the Hurricanes' attacks, but beginning to concede penalties at the breakdown.

This allowed Flux to kick a penalty deep into the Alresford 22 and, from a well-caught line out and strong maul, they drove up to the hosts' try line — Darren Carew eventually going over for the final score of the game, to complete their remarkable comeback and win.

Afterwards, relieved director of rugby, Damion Marriott, said: “We could not have got off to a worse start if we’d tried.

“The three very silly and easily preventable tries we offered up for Alresford should’ve been the end of us — especially when you consider how tight this league is at the moment.

“It would have really dented our ambitions for promotion.

“But hats off to the 17 lads. It wasn’t a game plan any team would’ve wished for and, to be playing against opposition with their tails up, with wind and weather conditions against us, we could’ve folded there and then.

“However, to dig deep and get the win was incredible. I would like to see any other side in the league do what we had done.”

Sandown and Shanklin welcome Fareham Heathens to Fairway Park for the last competitive fixture of 2018 on Saturday, kick-off 2pm.

Hurricanes: Shannon, Tyas, Richomme, Rees, Seder, Bagnall, Hopper, Carew, L.Little, Tyson, C. Little, J.Wedderkop, L.Wedderkop, Williams, Borrer. Subs: Flux, Dean, Marriott.