Heroic Hurricanes Push Havant all the way

The hosts elected to play up the field against the wind, and were instantly put under pressure, as the Havant defensive line kept the Hurricanes pinned in their 22. The home side managed to dig in and work their way out, and then relieve pressure when penalties allowed them to gain them valuable metres away from the try line.
It was the away side who managed to open the scoring, as they manoeuvred their backline to outstrip the Hurricanes defensive line, 0 - 5.
The Hurricanes restarted and immediately put the visitors under pressure by reclaiming possession from the kick off. Strong carrying from Rees and Flux earned the hosts momentum and with Barrett and Chandler using their quick feet, they were able to also get into the Havant defence. A string of infringements from the away side, led to the Hurricanes mauling their way close to the line but were held up. However moments later the defence was finally breached when Sam Rees barged his way over in the corner for a score, 5 - 5.
The remainder of the first half was then played out inside the Hurricane’s half. The fresh legs of Martin Richomme and Chris Skelley helping keep the Hurricanes small advantage in the scrums moving. Yet despite the spirited defence and determined tackling of Zak Chiverton and Matt Miselbach, Havant managed to score a second try and manage a vital conversion just before the halftime break, 5 - 12.

After swapping ends at the interval, Sandown now playing down the hill, it was their turn to apply the pressure. Havant carried hard after seeing what the hosts had to do in the first half, but the impressive Hurricanes defence didn’t make it easy for them and this earned them penalties to keep the pressure on. Despite the momentum the hosts couldn’t break the resilient Havant defence. Then with another penalty inside the Havant 22, an opposition player was eventually sent to the sin bin, and the man advantage told. Quick recycling of the ball allowed Liam Little to find space on the blindside for Chiverton to exploit, who worked his way to the Havant try line. With the Havant defence scrambling the ball was fed to Wightfibre Man of the Match Luke Wedderkop to dot down, 10 - 12.

The away side attempted to find a out of their half but again were pinned in their 22. Another string of infringements led to a second player being sent to the sin bin. As the visitors attempted to play out of their 22, the Hurricanes defence held firm, with Jack Winter and Adam Tyas tackling their hearts out. As the Havant attack attempted to break out, Luke Wedderkop read the play and intercepted the pass to score a vital third try and put the home side ahead, 15 - 12.
With less than ten minutes to go, and Havant facing their first loss of the season, the visitors rallied, and with the men in the sin bin rejoining the fray were back up to a full compliment. As the pressure built on Sandown, a number of infringements led to Martin Richomme being sin binned for the hosts and leaving them to hold with fourteen men. The hosts defence was holding Havant, but a classy counter attack caught the defence flat footed for a moment, and the Havant Fullback and skipper scored in the corner, to snatch the lead of the game, 15 - 17.
In the dying embers, the Hurricanes put all their might into finding a winning blow, but were denied by the league leaders. Full time score to a top quality encounter, 15 - 17.

Sandown & Shanklin Director of Rugby, Damien Marriott was full of pride after the game:

“There was plenty of spirit and character in our performance, and it was heartbreaking to lose the game within the last few minutes, after battling for so long. However, this young side will take so much experience from this game and will continue to improve in the future”