Cup exit for Hurries

Hurricanes’ run in the Hampshire Bowl ended with a hard fought match against Eastleigh, the team placed immediately above the Hurries in their league.

From the beginning, the welcome return of Cameron Mitchel at fly half gave Hurries good direction. For the first 20 minutes both teams had good attacking opportunities stopped only by the tight defences. This proved to be the pattern for the game with all the points coming from penalties, three in the first half to give Eastleigh a 9 nil half time lead.

Hurries though suffered the higher penalty count and spent long periods defending on their own 22 metre line but never threatened with conceding a try. Dogged work by props Chris Skelley and Sam Flux set the tone at the scrimmage with Sam Rees, Aidan Price and Sam Branston all working hard in the loose play.

The centre partners of Kemp Price and skipper Luke Chandler worked well off VIKOMA man-of-the-match Cameron Mitchel with scrum half Michael Cooper making the most of what clean position he had from his forwards. In the back three, Sam Tyson and Michael Barrett matched their opposite numbers and again a good cover tackling game from Andy Gough.

The home team used their superior penalty advantage to kick into the corners as Hurricanes struggled to adapt to the refereeing decisions. At the lineout, the catch and drive tactic was repelled by the Sandown pack and only further penalties allowed Eastleigh to move to the 9 nil half time lead.

The second half saw many changes in personnel as Todd Eldridge came on followed by Henry Bagnall to inject fresh players to try and break the home sides strangle hold on the game. Finally Chris Perfect and Michael Booth followed to replace Chris Skelly and Mike Cooper. The chances to change the game became less and less but to their credit Hurricanes held the line and the only score for the home team was a late penalty to run out as 12 nil winners.

Sandown now have only a friendly fixture over the coming weeks following the end of their league season and exit from the cup, but would have settled for the fourth place finish this year in LONDON South West 3, the best position in the clubs history. Skipper Luke Chandler said “We have surprised a number of clubs with our performances this year and the boys are keen to build for next season.”

TEAM: Chris Skelley, Adam Tyas, Sam Flux, David Greenough, Sam Rees, Aidan Price, Sam Branston, Michael Cooper, Cameron Mitchel, Sam Tyson, Luke Chandler (Capt), Kemp Price, Michael Barratt, Andy Gough, Chris Perfect, Todd Eldridge, Henry Bagnall, Michael Booth.