Thanks to Nolan for this report from Ventnor RFC. Ed
Nomads 1st XV 10-22 Ventnor 1st XV
Hurting from the previous week’s loss to the league leaders Ventnor were out to get back to winning ways.
With the Referee arriving late and the Island team getting an earlier boat for the long journey to Southsea, Ventnor had plenty of time to warm up and practice line out and back moves.
Possibly a little too long warming up as it took some time for Ventnor to get a foothold in the game. The breakthrough came from Aaron Marriott who picked from the back of a ruck and managed to weasel his way through and score the opening try and then converted by his brother Damien Marriott.
It wasn’t long after that Ventnor got their second try this time from Tobias Penner, picking up from eight in the scrum to then hand off a number of players and run in the try again converted by Marriott. The forwards were dominating the scrums and working hard, getting to the breakdowns and making hard yards. This eventually led to Nomads giving away a penalty and Marriott was again able to convert to end the half 17-0.
Nomads came out strong
In the second half Nomads came out strong and looking to start putting points on the board. This was made easier by Ventnor giving away too many penalties and allowed the home side to get three points on the board.
Continuing penalties from Ventnor saw them being walked back and eventually after some stern defence let in a try and conversion to take the score to 17-10. This plus the fact Damien Marriott and then Ed Blake were sin binned for being off side in two separate incidents made Ventnor up their game.
So even with 13 men on the pitch, managed to find another gear and playing some good rugby got themselves in the opposition twenty two. After drawing them one way the ball was then spun out to Todd Riches who drew the man then gave it Jake Babington to run into the open space in front and touch down to take the game to 22-10. The rest of the game was seen out without any other major incidents and put Ventnor back in to second position over the Christmas break.
Team: D.Newbury, L.Jones, R.Simpson, N.Turner, J.Morely, T.Penner, G.Davis, T.Riches, A.Marriott, D.Marriott, P.Berry, J.Babington, R.Harris, S.Lines, S.Williams, N.Winter, E.Blake
Wightlink Man Of The Match: Tobias Penner
A.J.Wells Black Dog Award: Ed Blake
Ventnor 2nd XV 15-24 Winchester Vets
Ventnor 2nds, the mighty lions, faced Winchester vets at Watcombe Bottom this Saturday. With other Island clubs having to cancel fixtures because of illness, Ventnor was lucky to still have a full team on the day.
In another rare moment, Hampshire RFU managed to arrange a referee for the fixture. The mighty lions saw the return this weekend of Gavin Davies who recently became a dad and Tommy Engelgardt who spent the previous weekend trying his best to get Peppa Pig’s number.
Winchester arrived with an experienced side and it looked set to be a tough contest. In the opening exchanges Ventnor dominated and was soon rewarded with a try in the corner by returning centre Gavin Davies.
Winchester came back with vigor and threw everything except the kitchen sink at the Ventnor players. This lead to a breakaway try from Winchester as one of their players dotted down under the sticks. The successive kick was charged down keeping the score level. A big run from monster prop Adam Pratt junior saw him falling over the Winchester try line with half their team hanging of his shirt, unfortunately the referee didn’t see him dot it down as there where so many players on top of him it was difficult to tell where the ball was.
Continuous pressure from the Ventnor team saw Gavin Davies crash over for his second try. Winchester clawed their way back in the match and through some good counter rucking and fast hands with their backs scored three unanswered tries.
The mighty lions fought back hard with slippery winger Dappy Bolton holding on to a offload from Gavin Davies and sliding through the Winchester defence like they didn’t exist setting up replacement flanker Tim Ross for a well deserved try. Unfortunately time ran out on the Ventnor fight back and Winchester vets walked away with the bragging rights.
Man of the match Jacobus Stemmet
AJ Wells Black dog award Gavin Davies
Image: sjbresnahan under CC BY 2.0
