1st XV
Matches
Sat 11 Feb 2017  ·  Snows Group Hampshire 1
Farnborough 1st XV
7
38
Sandown & Shanklin RFC
1st XV
Tries: M BarrettConversions: S Flux
Hurricanes Triumphant Over Valiant Farnborough

Hurricanes Triumphant Over Valiant Farnborough

SSRFC Webmaster16 Feb 2017 - 09:40
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With temperatures barely above zero and a chill wind blowing down the pitch, Farnborough struggled to make an impact against third league placed Sandown & Shanklin at their pitch nestled between hills on the Isle Of Wight.

On a cold and windy afternoon at the Fairway, the day was warmed up by the clash between Farnborough and the Hurricanes, as the visitors came looking for a win to keep the chances of staying in Hampshire 1 alive, and the hosts were in search of victory to keep up pressure on the top two sides in the league, New Milton & District and Petersfield.

The game began with Sandown & Shanklin playing from the bottom half on this chilly afternoon, however with an unusual swirling wind coming up the hill gave them the benefit of kicking out of the bottom half. It began brightly for the home side as they collected the ball from the restart and set about probing and testing the visitors defence early on.
From an early penalty fly half Joel Carey cleared the ball just inside the Farnborough half. From here the Hurricanes forwards took the initiative and set about gaining yards up the field for an opportunity. After testing the defence with some strong carrying from David Woolfenden and Zak Chiverton, the Hurricanes were gaining good metres in attack. When the ball was then spread wide, the gliding outside break of Matt Miselbach allowed the Hurricanes to get deep into the Farnborough territory. A quick offload found the space for winger and Triangle Cables Man of the Match Michael Barrett to dot down, with Flux converting, the Hurricanes had an early 7-0 lead.
Off the restart of the game, the invention from the Hurricanes to attack caught the visitors unaware and the bold play garnered them good field position again. After a getting back into the Farnborough 22, the ball was unfortunately lost forward. The resulting scrum allowed the Farnborough to clear their lines, however they were under severe pressure and did not make many yards.
The subsequent line out and maul gave the backs a strong base to launch a training ground move, with Barrett puncturing the defensive line and touching down for his second, Flux converting 14 - 0.
With the play going their way, the Hurricanes again found themselves challenging the Farnborough defence. This time at the scrum and following their success at the set piece in previous phases, Flux elected to take the scrum after the visitors infringed close to the try line. A powerful drive came on from the Sandown forwards, and 8 Harrison Booth gratefully touched the ball down, with Flux converting, the score was now 21 - 0. Unfortunately in a phase of play and an impressive break through the defensive line, prop David Woolfenden sustained an injury, and what turned out to be after the game, a spiral fracture in his hand. This injury will sadly rule out David for the remainder of the season. Henry Bagnall replaced David on the field for the remainder of the game.
The short injury break allowed some tactical input from the heavily clad coaching team. This bore fruit immediately as a long kick exposed a hesitant winger, whose kick return was picked up by deputising captain Sam Flux just inside the Farnborough half. Strong support lines and some slick hands from forwards Ben Allman and Zak Chiverton progressed the ball up the touchline, with Chiverton brushing off the last defender to dive over the try line. Flux failed to convert, providing the Hurricanes with a 26 - 0 lead at the half time break, and a four try bonus point already in the bag.

The second half kicked off, with the hosts looking to continue the superb rugby they had been playing in the first half. However, the Farnborough side has collected it's thoughts and half time and came out with more fight in their play from the start. Despite their reinvigorated approach, an early penalty allowed Joel Carey to kick his side into the Farnborough 22. From the resulting line out, the assembled maul surged towards the try line. The maul was halted and the Hurricanes forward fanned out looking to finish the powerful drive to the line. First Flux attempted, but was held up and resulted in a scrum on the 5m line. From the resulting scrum, the Hurricanes drove toward the line again, but the disintegrating Farnborough scrum were somehow allowed to get hands on the ball and set up a ruck on their own try line. Undeterred, the Hurricanes pack applied pressure and forced a sliced clearance kick. The ball was plucked out the air by Carey, supported by Sam Branston, setting up a base for a marauding pod of forwards, headed by second row Luke Hunter, charged over and touched down. Flux converted to take the score to 33-0.

What followed from this period was a decline in the quality of play from the Hurricanes, as Farnborough valiantly fought back. In a sustained period of pressure in the hosts 22, Chris Skelley was first sin binned for a breakdown infringement, shortly followed by Sam Flux for a no-arm tackle. With the Hurricanes down to 13 players they had to work hard to defend their try line, with no way through the middle, the visitors attempted to stretch the defence, eventually being driven into touch. However, the advantage being held from a succession of infringements was deemed enough to award a penalty try.

With the game lacking any structure of play in the last few minutes, the Hurricanes were the ones that achieved the last score of the game. After some delightful hands in the midfield and great work by winger Harry Hopper to carry the ball. The forwards were bearing down on the line once again. With the Farnborough defence split, they could not stop a rampaging Andrew Taff from dotting down for the final score. Flux missed the conversion 38 - 7.

The game petered out in the last moments and the players, supporters and fans were delighted to celebrate a victory which continues an unbeaten streak for the Hurricanes 1st XV.

SSRFC XV: 1. David Woolfenden, 2. Zak Chiverton, 3. Chris Skelley, 4. Luke Hunter, 5. Sam Flux (c), 6. Sam Branston 7. Ben Allman, 8. Harrison Booth; 9. Jacob Jordan, 10. Joel Carey, 11. Michael Barrett, 12. David Graham, 13. Matt Miselbach, 14. Harry Hopper, 15. Harry Miselbach.
Subs: 16. Henry Bagnall, 17. Andrew Taff, 18. Harvey Kirkby

Match details

Match date

Sat 11 Feb 2017

Kickoff

14:30

Meet time

12:00

Competition

Snows Group Hampshire 1

League position

3
Sandown & Shanklin 1st XV
11
Farnborough 1st XV
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Club Sponsor - Wightfibre