Match Preview

The 1st XV are back in action this Saturday, but not against their originally planned opposition. Alton RFC were unable to to raise a side, therefore the Hurricanes moved quickly to organise a fixture against a mixed island side with players from both Isle of Wight RFC and Ventnor RFC.

There are a few players who are out of contention for selection in this fixture. Long term casualties, centre Sam Tyson (ankle), flanker Harry Miselbach (knee), and a recent injury to 1st XV Captain Jacob Jordan, rule them out of this fixture and most likely a few more yet. Jordan still waiting to make his first start with the Captains armband. New signing Rob Eston, who picked up an ankle injury on his debut, is out of selection contention for this game. As well both the Wedderkop brothers, Luke and Jack, are unavailable for selection due to holidays. Prop Ben Shannon is unavailable due to his final game of the season playing cricket.

Back in consideration for selection are prop Darren Carew, second row Damian Seder and full back Max Fletcher.

There is also the opportunity for young prop Ben Booth to make his home debut for SSRFC on Saturday afternoon.

SSRFC Director of Rugby, Damien Marriott, shared his thoughts ahead of this weekends fixtures. With the disappointment that Alton were unable to raise a side I must pass my thanks to the fellow island teams in gathering a side together with very little notice. I know the boys are really looking forward to this fixture as it’s the first time the group will be playing a full 80 minutes, in what is looking to be some testing conditions due to the heat. Last time out we completed two matches, in a round robin format playing 25 minutes, to get some game time under our belts. The group have worked extremely hard during training in the last few weeks, and that has put us in position to right our wrongs from the first hit out. The side Saturday will look much different from the side that last time with this week being the perfect time to blood new combinations.