Following the postponement of the local derby against the Isle of Wight, it had been two weeks since the Hurricanes last played a competitive game. With the extended the break Sandown & Shanklin had a few weeks of intense training before facing this weeks opponents Ellingham & Ringwood.

As soon as Sandown & Shanklin RFC arrived and noticed the state of the Ellingham pitch, they realised it would be a long and potentially tedious day on the field. The game began with Sandown claiming the ball and the ever present Luke Hunter set up a maul. This attracted the Ringwood forwards to the ball to prevent the forward drive. As a result, the strong driving from Captain Sam Flux, and Henry Bagnall, allowed scrum half Michael Barrett, to find no one guarding the blind side and had a clear 60m sprint to the try line, to provide the Hurricanes with the perfect start. Joel Carey could not convert the resulting conversion, as the tricky condition of the pitch made the conversion attempt difficult.

From the restart of play, the Hurricanes reclaimed possession and set about getting back into Ellingham's territory. However with the the conditions beginning to affect play, the game became a very 'stop - start' affair, with the ball accumulating thick mud and making handling of the ball very difficult. With the breaks in pay becoming more prevalent, an advantage at the scrum was essential. From the first scrum, Ringwood found themselves on the back foot, with the Hurricanes dominant, and first team debutant Andy Claire had the better of the opposition prop. Soon the Hurricanes found themselves with a five metre scrum from the Ringwood try line. The Sandown pack, marched toward the try line, and with the Ellingham forwards on the retreat, number 8, Sam Rees picked and fed Michael Barrett to go over again, creating a 0-10 lead for the Hurricanes. The conversion was missed, but Hurricanes were the ascendancy. with the remainder of the second half being played in the Ellingham half, Sandown could not manage to penetrate the opposition defensive line again before half time.

With the resumption of the second half, the game plan was much the same with the Hurricanes looking to play in the Ellingham territory. Although most of the play was now being halted by the terrible muddy conditions of the Ringwood pitch. Resolute tackling from the Hurricanes defensive line and from man of the match David Graham, meant that the Ringwood could not find a way through. As play became fraught, the opposition began to lose players to injury, and as a result forced the game to become nullified, as the scrums became uncontested - removing the Hurricanes most potent platform of attack. In the last dying minutes of the game Man of the Match Luke Hunter found space and some firm ground and motored into the Ellingham 22. After being tackled slick handling from Hunter, to Jonathan Holmes, Sam Tyson and Joel Carey. The fly half was brought down just before the try line and with the home side infringing, Sandown kicked to the corner to push on for a third try. However with Ellingham managing to hold out the final whistle blew, with the Hurricanes picking up their second away win of the season and continued their unbeaten start to 2016.

Sandown & Shanklin now to turn to this Saturday (20th February), to welcome table toppers Fareham Heathens to the Fairway and with the opportunity to avenge the loss earlier in the season away from home to Fareham.

Henry Bagnall, Adam Tyas, Andrew Claire, Luke Hunter, Sam Flux, Harrison Booth Ryan Carey, Sam Rees, Michael Barrett, Joel Carey, Zak Chiverton, David Graham, Stephen Perfect, Jonathan Holmes, Sam Tyson, Matt Miselbach, Harvey Kirkby