Thanks to Nolan for sharing this latest report from the Ventnor RFC. Ed
Ventnor 1st 26-0 Fawley 1st
First league game of the season and VP day for the Island team who put on a good performance in front of the home fans on a blustery day.
The game started off with Ventnor showing they were ready to get back to winning ways, putting in big tackles and making sure that Fawley knew they would have to work hard to get anything form this game. With an injury picked up even before the warm up there was a reshuffle in the starting backs.
The home side opened the scoring within ten minutes after being pinned in their own half for the majority of the time with Fawley having the wind with them and using it to their advantage. Sam Pickard was the one to score after a superb interception pass inside his own twenty two Sam Lines managed to break through the middle of the field but was halted by Fawley’s last line of defence. There were then a few phases of play with Ventnor Forwards picking and driving edging closer to the line for Pickard to then carry it over, Damien Marriott took up kicking duties as usual and converted to make it 7-0.
The lead could have been doubled by Ross Harris after he touched down a loose ball that had been kicked through only for it to deemed knocked on and not touched down under control. The rest of the half saw Ventnor battling against the wind and staying out of their half but showed their defensive quality and kept the score at 7-0, even with going down to 14 men after Daniel Newbury was given another yellow card to add to his collection for the season.
The Second half saw Ventnor start to ease into the game and play some excellent rugby and were rewarded with three well-worked tries. With a couple of substitutions made and a slight re shuffle due to injuries picked up in the first half Ventnor came out strong and were now the ones with the wind in their favour and used it to their advantage to gain ground.
Sam Lines had been moved to the ten position and used his step to great effect carving through the opposition to gain ground, then with a kick through from Jake Babington Lines touched down with the first of his two tries which he converted with a drop kick as the ball wouldn’t stay on the tee. The next try came from some good work from the forwards gaining ground by hitting up round the fringes of the ruck. With a great practised move executed by the captain Todd Riches running a J line to break through the defensive line and score.
The final score of the game came this time from a well executed move by Aaron Marriott to set up Lines to score the last try of the game. It was a great team performance and victory from all 18 Ventnor players.
Team: Dan Newberry, Lewis Jones, Rob Simpson, Sam Pickard, James Morley, Paul Berry, Gareth Davies, Todd Riches, Aaron Marriott, Damien Marriott, Ross Harris, Jake Babington, Shaun Williams, Tom Engelgardt, Neil Turner, Darrel Bolton, Sam Lines, Andy Gilbert
Wight Link Man Of The Match: Lewis Jones (excellent control round the park and throwing in with terrible weather conditions)
A.J.Wells Black Dog Award: Ross Harris
Match Sponsors: Quarr Abbey Tea Shop, Signpost Express, A J Wells, Broadfields Park Farm, One Small Co LLP, Perks of Ventnor, Barry Pike
Image: sjbresnahan under CC BY 2.0
