By Nick Creal
Outstanding defensive performance from red shirted warriors
Romsey travelled to the Island on Saturday looking for a first win there since 2008 when 3 of the squad hadn’t even gone to school and only 1 was legally allowed to drink. Trips south are fraught with logistical problems and the team travelled without balls or contact shields but the godfather of Wootton Nick “Don Squealeroni” Creal used his contacts over there and sourced the necessary items needed.
The game started at a ferocious pace with the teams evenly matched as the Island used their bulky forwards to hammer in close to the breakdowns but each charge was felled by a man in red. Unfortunately one of these bulks fell awkwardly into Josh Doran, who’s kneecap decided to take a quick holiday from its position on the front of his leg round to the side but this was remedied by the swift actions of Will Bayliss and Nick Buck. Doran however had to leave the field to be replaced by the geriatric Rob Stent. Romsey started to get the upper hand through the hard tackling of Brad Piper and this caused the Island to infringe again giving Eli Pitt the chance to open the scoring after 20 minutes with a kick to make it 0-3.
Romsey tried to move the ball wide when they could to use the wingers who are a touch quicker than their early season ones and this paid dividends when the returning Jamie Stent broke outside his opposite number and linked with former Welsh schoolboy Rhys “passport” Hill down the left before a quickly recycled ball was popped to a rampaging Jon “Jesus” Allen who crashed over wide out for a well worked try. Pitt judged a tricky wind deftly to slot a conversion on a par with one that occurred on the road to Damascus in AD38 to make it 0-10.
With half time approaching the aged Stent won a turnover penalty deep in IoW territory and the choice was made to go for the corner. Ben Hoad’s accurate throw was plucked out of the air by the flying mullet Harrison Scott and the ensuing maul rumbled towards the line sucking in defenders. Selecting the precise moment Dan “bunny girl” Penn-Newman sniped off the back and fed the onrushing chunky Northerner and captain Caine Latham, who despite being tripped up by a longer blade of grass used his power and momentum to score an unconverted try, to match his brother Will’s at Ventnor, to make the score 0-15 at half time.
With coach Dave Grosse reminding the team what happened earlier in the season when leading, deciding to keep things the same, Elliott Johnson was unlucky not to enter the fray but did a fine job on the touch line, as Romsey had their destiny in their own hands. All the training with slippery wet balls was paying off as on a dry day with a dry ball crisp handling through the backs almost produced the try of the season but good scramble defence from the home team allowed them to clear and attack the Romsey 22 with vigour. On the weekend of the 144th anniversary of Rourke’s Drift another red defensive line stood up to wave upon wave of attackers with ginger ninja Dan Murrant to the fore time and again stopping the hard carrying Island number 8 as he broke from scrums.
Romsey had chances to put the game away but Adam Pinkney, who’s support run was so long he started it with black hair and finished it with grey, was tackled as he took a return pass from Allen with the line at his mercy causing the ball to spill loose, and Isaac Pitt who was adjudged to be in front of the fastest man on the pitch when he received a pass that was ruled forward by the referee.
The dogged Islanders eventually broke through to score but crucially the conversion was missed, and having been refuelled by Alfie Lawrence the game entered the final 10 minutes. More great work from Hoad and Piper at the breakdown gained Romsey a penalty in front of the posts but buoyed by their earlier success the side elected to go for the try. The lineout was secured and the ball moved to Isaac Pitt who was bundled over the line but the referee decided that the ball was held up. The swiftly taken goal line drop out was fumbled on half way and this put the home side on the front foot sensing a chance to steal the game but Brad Hughes and Jon Allen pulled off a massive double tackle that prevented a certain try.
Again the Island attacked but captain Latham stole a vital turnover and Penn-Newman’s slick pass gave Eli Pitt the time to delicately float a kick pass into the hands of the electric Sam Adams, graciously called the fastest player to grace the IoW pitch in a long time by the opposition, the chance to evade the scramble defence to secure the victory with an excellent try that Pitt converted to quell the pacing Tom Clarke’s nerves.
Oli Soundy replaced the tired Rob Stent and skilfully used his head and the angle of the sun to cause the Island to fumble the ball which was cleared to touch to end the game 5-22 and end the home sides 16 game, 13 month unbeaten run on their pitch.
This was by far the best performance of the season with the defence outstanding and the handling crisp and Romsey hopes to build on this as they welcome Andover 2s to Ganger Farm this Saturday for a game that kicks off at 1400. The following week sees the 2s return to action in a game against Trojans 2s that kicks off at 1230 allowing the players to watch the 6 nations afterwards.
